About 20 federal prosecutors and support staff from U.S. attorney offices in Florida, New York and Pennsylvania have agreed to help their colleagues in Oklahoma’s Northern District handle a “tidal wave” of new criminal cases resulting from the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the state’s lack of jurisdiction on tribal lands, the Associated Press reports. “It’s a lot of work,” U.S. Attorney Trent Shores said of his district’s nearly doubled caseload in the last month after the ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma, which determined that a large region in eastern Oklahoma is Muscogee (Creek) Nation territory where only tribal or federal authorities can prosecute crimes committed by or against Native Americans.
The Creek Nation’s territory encompassed more than 3 million acres, including most of what became the state’s second-largest city, Tulsa. Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler said he is working to get some of his assistant district attorneys cross-appointed to work with prosecutors in Shores’ office on various cases. While protocols and procedures may have changed for Tulsa police, Tulsa Police Department Deputy Chief Eric Dalgleish said nothing has changed for citizens who call 911. “We’re sending an officer there to handle that call, and they will make those decisions (on jurisdiction) when they show up,” Dalgleish said, adding that his officers are cross-deputized with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and are able to handle cases involving Native American suspects or victims. Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter estimated last week that as many as 2,000 inmates could seek to have their convictions overturned as a result of the ruling, including several who are on death row.