State can charge tribal member
Yakama on Quinault property, court says
SEATTLE – The Washington Supreme Court ruled Thursday that state prosecutors can charge a member of an Indian tribe who is living on another tribe’s land.
The court’s ruling came in the case of a Yakama Nation man who was living on the Quinault Indian Nation’s reservation. When Howard John Evans Shale failed to register as a sex offender on the Quinault reservation, a Jefferson County prosecutor filed charges against him.
Shale moved to dismiss the charges, arguing the county had no jurisdiction over a tribal member in Indian Country. But the justices disagreed. Their unanimous ruling said because Shale was not a member of the Quinault Indian Nation, the state has jurisdiction.
Shale was convicted in 1997 of raping a child.
In 2012, a Jefferson County sheriff began investigating whether Shale had moved without registering. With the help of a Quinault tribal police officer, they determined Shale had been living on the reservation by dividing his time between two homes.
The Jefferson County prosecutor charged Shale with failure to register.
Shale appealed, arguing he was a member of a federally recognized tribe and the offense was on the Quinault reservation.
Citing U.S. Supreme Court rulings, the justices said tribal courts do not have jurisdiction over members of other tribes and the state does not have jurisdiction over Quinault Indian Nation members while on their reservation. Taken together, the state can charge him with crimes.