United States v. Arnold Gemmill

Appellant Indians challenge their convictions for theft of government property and for illegal occupancy of a national forest. Their consolidated appeals can be divided into two categories: the timber cases and the trespass cases.

On November 8, 1973, the three appellants in the timber cases cut and carried away Christmas trees from the Shasta Trin ity National Forest. They claimed authority to do so under an authorization from the Pit River Indian Tribe, of which they are members and which, they contend, has Indian title to the land in question. Appellants were charged under 18 U.S.C. § 641 with theft of government property valued at less than $100. Two of the appellants received the maximum sentence of one year imprisonment and the third, Pete Wilson, was sentenced to an indeterminate term under the Federal Youth Corrections Act, 18 U.S.C. § 5010 (b).

The trespass appellants were charged with illegal occupancy of the Lassen National Forest following the issuance of closure orders by the Forest Supervisor. The alleged trespasses occurred in December 1972 and December 1973. In both instances, the reason given for the closure order was to avoid a confrontation between…