Report Given To Tribal Prosecutor In Case Involving Councilwoman

A report that Colville Confederated Tribes Councilwoman Frances Charette stabbed her off-and-on boyfriend was presented to the tribal prosecutor Tuesday.

Tribal Police Chief Jay Goss said he sent his report to Prosecutor Lin Sonnenberg for a possible assault charge. Under tribal law, a conviction could carry a maximum penalty of one year in jail.

The case poses a jurisdictional quandary because the alleged stabbing occurred on the tribal ferry between Gifford in Stevens County and Inchelium on the Colville Indian Reservation. The reservation boundary is in the middle of Lake Roosevelt.

“I don’t know if five minutes put it at the halfway point or not,” Goss said. “I guess we’ll just have to let the attorneys argue that one out.”

But, Goss said, “No one’s been beating on our doorway” to demand jurisdiction. He said he decided to present his report to the tribal prosecutor after receiving a letter Tuesday in which the U.S. Attorney’s office in Spokane declined to handle the case.

Charette, 39, is suspected of stabbing Eugene Michel, 34, twice in the lower back after she caught him on the ferry with another woman on the night of June 2. Both Michel and Charette live in Inchelium. She represents the Inchelium District in the tribal government, and is up for reelection next year.

, DataTimes