State v. Moore

841 P.2d 231, 173 Ariz. 236, 126 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 29, 1992 Ariz. App. LEXIS 304
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedNovember 17, 1992
DocketNo. 1 CA-CR 91-150
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 841 P.2d 231 (State v. Moore) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Moore, 841 P.2d 231, 173 Ariz. 236, 126 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 29, 1992 Ariz. App. LEXIS 304 (Ark. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

OPINION

TOCI, Judge.

This is an appeal from the sentence imposed on a judgment of conviction that Mark Chester Moore (“defendant”) commit[237]*237ted theft from a convenience market on the Cocopah Indian Reservation. The issue is whether a non-Indian defendant who steals from a reservation convenience store, owned and operated by a joint venture between an Indian tribe and a foreign corporation authorized to do business in Arizona, is subject to State of Arizona jurisdiction. We conclude that because the crime did not significantly involve the interests of the Indian tribe, Arizona has jurisdiction.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

A Yuma County grand jury indicted the defendant on four counts of theft and one count of armed robbery. The defendant, an employee of the Cocopah Easy Corner convenience market (“market”), located on the Cocopah Indian reservation, stole cash receipts from the market on three occasions. He was charged with three counts of theft, all class 3 felonies. The defendant later returned to the market and, armed with a knife, robbed the clerk of $400.00. He was charged with one count of robbery, a class 2 felony, and one other count of theft, a class 6 felony.

Easy Corner Inc. (“Easy Corner”), a Colorado corporation authorized to do business in Arizona, operates the convenience market under a joint venture agreement and a federally-approved tribal lease. According to the terms of the agreement, Easy Corner contributed the financing and construction of the market to the joint venture. The tribe’s only contribution to the joint venture was the grant of the right to conduct a convenience market on the reservation under the lease between the tribe and Easy Corner. Paragraph 4.06 of the agreement, however, provides that at the end of the ten-year term, the joint venture terminates and ownership of the building, improvements, and trade fixtures passes from Easy Corner to the tribe.

Paragraph 4.01 of the agreement provides that Easy Corner has the sole power and authority to operate and manage the market. Accordingly, the agreement entitles Easy Corner to the lion’s share of the net profits. In contrast, the tribe has no management authority and receives a small percentage of the net profits on convenience store sales.1

Presumably due to a mistaken belief that the joint venture was a tribal enterprise, the grand jury originally listed the Cocopah Indian Tribe as one of the victims in all five counts of the indictment. The defendant moved to dismiss, arguing that the Yuma County Superior Court had no jurisdiction because the acts occurred on the Cocopah Indian reservation and involved funds or property in which the tribe had a “direct business and financial interest.” The trial court agreed and struck the tribe from the indictment. Nevertheless, the trial court concluded it had jurisdiction over the non-Indian defendant and the remaining victims, Easy Corner, and the non-Indian clerk.

Later, the defendant entered an Alford2 plea to one count of theft, a class 3 felony, with one prior felony conviction. In return, the state agreed to drop the remaining charges and limit restitution to $13,000.00. The basis for the count to which the defendant pled was the theft of one day’s receipts of $3,876.33 in cash and $1,048.00 in checks from the convenience market. The trial court accepted the defendant’s plea and sentenced him to an aggravated term of ten years in prison with credit for 311 days of presentence incarceration. The court also ordered defendant to pay restitution in the amount of $12,673.80. The defendant timely appealed.

[238]*238DISCUSSION

We hold that Arizona has jurisdiction over the defendant for the crime he committed against the joint venture on the Indian reservation. We find that because the joint venture agreement does not give the tribe a substantial interest in the joint venture, the crime did not significantly involve the interests of the tribe. Further, we conclude that vesting Arizona with jurisdiction will not infringe upon tribal interests or the federal government’s ability to protect the tribe’s interests.

Jurisdiction in Indian country “is governed by a complex patchwork of federal, state, and tribal law.” Duro v. Reina, 495 U.S. 676, 680 n. 1, 110 S.Ct. 2053, 2057 n. 1, 109 L.Ed.2d 693 (1990). Indian country includes “all land within the limits of any Indian reservation under the jurisdiction of the United States government.” 18 U.S.C. § 1151(a). The Indian Country Crimes Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1152, “applies the general laws of the United States to crimes committed in Indian country.” Duro, 495 U.S. at 680 n. 1, 110 S.Ct. at 2057 n. 1.3 Under this act, federal courts have jurisdiction over non-Indians who commit crimes against Indians on Indian reservations. See Williams v. Lee, 358 U.S. 217, 220, 79 S.Ct. 269, 270, 3 L.Ed.2d 251 (1959); Williams v. United States, 327 U.S. 711, 714, 66 S.Ct. 778, 780, 90 L.Ed. 962 (1946); Donnelly v. United States, 228 U.S. 243, 269-72, 33 S.Ct. 449, 458-59, 57 L.Ed. 820 (1912); see also Felix S. Cohen, Handbook of Federal Indian Law, at 298 (1982 ed.). This court has held that federal jurisdiction is exclusive when a non-Indian commits a crime against an Indian in Indian country. State v. Flint, 157 Ariz. 227, 229, 756 P.2d 324, 326 (App.1988), cert. denied, 492 U.S. 911, 109 S.Ct. 3228, 106 L.Ed.2d 577 (1989).

The Supreme Court, however, has created a judicial exception to the Indian Country Crimes Act, Duro, 495 U.S. at 680 n. 1, 110 S.Ct. at 2057 n. 1, by holding that states have exclusive jurisdiction over non-Indians who commit offenses against non-Indians on Indian reservations. United States v. McBratney, 104 U.S. 621, 26 L.Ed. 869 (1882) (Colorado had exclusive jurisdiction over a white defendant who murdered a white victim on an Indian reservation); Draper v. United States, 164 U.S. 240, 17 S.Ct. 107, 41 L.Ed. 419 (1896) (Montana had exclusive jurisdiction over a black defendant who murdered a black victim on an Indian reservation); New York ex rel. Ray v. Martin, 326 U.S. 496, 66 S.Ct. 307, 90 L.Ed. 261 (1946) (State of New York had exclusive jurisdiction over a non-Indian defendant who murdered a non-Indian victim on an Indian reservation); see also Cohen at 298.

Although the State of Arizona follows the McBratney-Draper-Martin holdings, State v. Attebery, 110 Ariz. 354, 519 P.2d 53 (1974); State v. Griswold, 101 Ariz. 577, 422 P.2d 693, cert.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Verdugo
901 P.2d 1165 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1995)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
841 P.2d 231, 173 Ariz. 236, 126 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 29, 1992 Ariz. App. LEXIS 304, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-moore-arizctapp-1992.