Thomas Henry, Jr. v. United States

Appellant was convicted on both counts of an indictment charging him and three companions, all Indians, with raping two twenty-year old non-Indian girls, within the confines of the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation in Nevada in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1152 and 2031. Appellant was sentenced to concurrent seven-year terms of imprisonment.

Henry contends that the indictment is defective because it charges violations of §§ 1152 and 2031, whereas the charges should be violations of § 1153 of Title 18, United States Code.

Section 1153 provides (in relevant part):

The appellant argues that the language of this statute, also known as the Major Crimes Act, is plain and clear on its face and should have been used in the indictment.

The government contends that despite the “or other person” language of § 1153, legislative history demonstrates that the section was intended to apply only to crimes committed by an Indian against another Indian.

According to the government, § 1153 was adopted against a backdrop of Congressional outrage over the effects of Ex Parte Crow Dog, 109 U.S. 556 , 3 S.Ct. 396 , 27 L.Ed. 1030 (1883) ousting federal territorial courts of jurisdiction over crimes…