United States v. Robert Louis Hoodie, United States of America v. Aaron Daniel Kennedy

Hoodie and Kennedy were convicted of burglary in federal district court and placed on probation. They appeal, claiming that the federal court lacked jurisdiction to hear their cases. We agree and thus vacate the judgments below.

Statement of the Case

On June 25, 1977, the Tribal Office Building on the Burns Paiute Reservation was burglarized. Appellants, enrolled members of the Burns Paiute Indian tribe, were charged with the crime in federal court. Appellants moved for dismissal, contending that 18 U.S.C. § 1162 (a) provided for exclusive Oregon jurisdiction over the matter.

The district court denied the motion, holding that federal jurisdiction obtained given 25 U.S.C. § 1321 (a). United States v. Hoodie, 441 F.Supp. 835 (D.Or.1977). The court acknowledged that § 1162, passed in 1953, appeared to grant the state jurisdiction. It concluded, nonetheless, that eon gressional adoption of § 1321 in 1968 signalled a change in congressional philosophy toward Indians, meaning that “Congress may have limited the scope of § 1162, sub silentio to the Indian country that existed in Oregon in 1953.” Id. at 837. Because the Burns Paiute Reservation was created in 1972, the court concluded…