Residents of Shannon County, South Dakota, changed the name of the county to Oglala Lakota County in 2014. Photo by Neeta Lind / Flickr
High court rules in favor of Oglala Lakota County residents
By Brandon Ecoffey
Lakota Country Times Editor PINE RIDGE—The South Dakota Supreme Court ruled that an order issued by former Seventh Circuit Presiding Judge Jeff Davis that deprived Oglala Lakota County residents of the right to sit on trial juries in cases originating in their county is illegal. “This is a victory for the residents of Oglala Lakota County,” said Charles Abourezk, a longtime indigenous rights lawyer who was one of the two attorneys from Abourezk Law Firm who challenged the order. In 2009, Judge Davis issued a standing order that essentially prevented residents of Oglala Lakota County from exercising their right to serve on a jury in cases that arose and would ordinarily be tried in their county. Oglala Lakota County is located on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and the state of South Dakota does not have a county office located within the boundaries of the county that sits within the borders of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. As a result of the absence of a county office in Oglala Lakota County all matters that fall under the jurisdiction of the state are litigated in neighboring Fall County. A dispute arose after a different state judge interpreted Judge Davis’ order to mean that only residents of Fall River County were eligible to serve as jurors in cases originating in Oglala Lakota County. The ruling handed down by the South Dakota Supreme Court came about after the estate of Vera Good Lance pursued legal action against Black Hills Dialysis for negligence after the now deceased Good Lance had fallen and suffered injuries while under its care. During pretrial hearings that took place in Fall River County lawyers for Black Hills Dialysis argued that the order issued by Davis required that only residents of Fall River County should be seated as jurors despite the fact that the issue in question had occurred in Oglala Lakota County.
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Presiding Judge Robert Mandel ruled that only residents of Fall River County would be seated on the jury. Lawyers from Abourezk Law Firm representing the plaintiffs challenged appealed the ruling and last week the South Dakota Supreme Ruled that Judge Davis’ order does not prevent Oglala Lakota County residents from serving as jurors in these cases. The Supreme Court ruled Judge Davis “exceeded his statutory and constitutional authority in issuing the standing order effectively changing venue in all Oglala Lakota County cases.” “Whatever the reasons for the order, his authority does not include the power to effectively change the venue of all properly venued Oglala Lakota County cases,” the Supreme Court opinion said. “The standing order clearly went beyond the confines of the presiding judge’s statutory authority.” The Supreme Court vacated Judge Davis’ standing order and reversed the decision of Judge Mandel and ordered that Oglala Lakota County jurors should be summoned and seated for the trial. Judge Davis is the same judge who was sued by the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe for multiple systematic violations of the Indian Child Welfare Act. The practices of Judge Davis allowed for representatives of South Dakota’s Dept of Social Service to seize Native American children in Pennington County without allowing parents of the children to challenge or hear the reasons why their child was taken during emergency custody hearings. A federal court found that those courtroom policies were in violation of the rights to due process of the Native parents involved in those cases were ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge. South Dakota Supreme Court Decision:
Good Lance v. Black Hills Dialysis (November 4, 2015) (Contact Brandon Ecoffey at editor@lakotacountrytimes.com) Find the award-winning Lakota Country Times on the Internet, Facebook and Twitter.
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