Federal Court Invalidates Oklahoma Conviction and Death Sentence of Native American for Murder on Tribal Lands

A fed­er­al appeals court has vacat­ed the con­vic­tion and death sen­tence of Patrick Dwayne Murphy (pic­tured), a Native-American death-row pris­on­er in Oklahoma from the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, hold­ing that the state lacked author­i­ty to try him for a mur­der that occurred with­in the bor­ders of the Creek Reservation. 

On August 8, a unan­i­mous three-judge pan­el of the U.S Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit sided with Murphy and Native American friend-of-the-court advo­cates in des­ig­nat­ing a region that spans eleven coun­ties across Oklahoma — includ­ing most of Tulsa — part of ​“Indian coun­try,” sub­ject to exclu­sive fed­er­al juris­dic­tion for cer­tain crimes enu­mer­at­ed under the fed­er­al Major Crimes Act. 

“Mr. Murphy is a mem­ber of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation,” the court wrote. ​“Because the homi­cide charged against him was com­mit­ted in Indian coun­try, the Oklahoma state courts lacked juris­dic­tion to try him.” 

The deci­sion does not absolve Murphy of poten­tial crim­i­nal lia­bil­i­ty for the mur­ders: ​“The deci­sion whether to pros­e­cute Mr. Murphy in fed­er­al court,” the Circuit pan­el said, ​“rests with the United States.” 

The land in issue — falling inside the reser­va­tion bound­aries of the Creek Nation drawn by the United States in 1866 — has long been claimed by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and lawyers for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma had filed ami­cus curi­ae briefs in the case argu­ing that it con­sti­tut­ed Indian coun­try under federal law. 

Judith Royster, an expert on trib­al law at the University of Tulsa, said that the court’s rul­ing reaf­firms that claim. However, the deci­sion’s impact, she says, extends beyond the Creek Nation: ​“any crime com­mit­ted by or against an Indian, not just a Creek cit­i­zen, but any Indian, in the bound­aries of the Creek reser­va­tion can no longer be pros­e­cut­ed by the state of Oklahoma,” said Rosyter. 

The Creek Nation juris­dic­tion includes Hughes, McIntosh, Okfuskee, Okmulgee, Wagoner, and Creek coun­ties and por­tions of Tulsa, Mayes, Seminole, and Rogers coun­ties. Muscogee (Creek) Nation Principal Chief James Floyd cel­e­brat­ed the court’s deci­sion. ​“Today’s unan­i­mous deci­sion is a com­plete and unqual­i­fied vic­to­ry for not only the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, but all of Indian Country,” Floyd said. ​“This deci­sion affirms the right of the Nation and all oth­er Indian Nations to make and enforce their own laws with­in their own boundaries.” 

Murphy first raised the juris­dic­tion­al issue in his sec­ond appli­ca­tion for state post-con­vic­tion relief in 2004 after los­ing pri­or court chal­lenges to his con­vic­tion and sen­tence, includ­ing one that claimed he should not be exe­cut­ed because he is intellectually disabled.

The deci­sion is the sec­ond since 2013 vacat­ing an Oklahoma cap­i­tal con­vic­tion for mur­ders occur­ring on trib­al lands. That year, the Tenth Circuit over­turned David B. Magnan​’s con­vic­tion and death sen­tence after deter­min­ing that the offense had been com­mit­ted on Seminole-owned land. Magnan was then tried in fed­er­al court and sen­tenced to life in prison.

Sixteen Native Americans have been exe­cut­ed in the United States since 1993, includ­ing three—Scott Dawn Carpenter, Jerald Harjo and Terrance James—who were tried in Oklahoma coun­ties that have now been declared par­tial­ly under the juris­dic­tion of the Creek Nation.