By Martha Bellisle
The Associated Press
SEATTLE — The state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that state prosecutors can charge a member of a Native American tribe who is living on another tribe’s land.
The high court’s ruling came in the case of a Yakama Nation man who was living on the Quinault Nation’s reservation.
When Howard John Evans Shale failed to register as a sex offender while living 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 that because Shale was not a member of the Quinault Nation, the state has jurisdiction.
Shale was convicted in 1997 of raping a child younger than 12. Once released from prison, he moved to Seattle, where he registered as a sex offender with the King County sheriff, court records said.
In 2012, a Jefferson County sheriff deputy began investigating whether Shale had moved to that county without registering.
With the help of a Quinault tribal police officer, they determined that Shale had been living on the Quinault Reservation by dividing his time between two family homes.
The Jefferson County prosecutor charged Shale with failure to register.
A state judge agreed, saying the law “carved out from state authority only ‘Indians when on their tribal lands,’ not tribal members while on another tribe’s land,” the justices wrote.
Shale appealed, arguing that he was a member of a federally recognized tribe and the offense was on the Quinault Reservation.
Citing U.S. Supreme Court rulings, the state justices said tribal courts do not have jurisdiction over members of other tribes and the state does not have jurisdiction over members of Quinault Nation members while on their reservation.
Taken together, because Shale is not a member of the Quinault Nation, the state can charge him with crimes.
