United States v. Walter Dale Broncheau

Appellant Broncheau, an Indian, was indicted for assault resulting in serious bodily injury of a non-Indian within Indian country, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1153 and 113(f).

Broncheau moved to dismiss the indictment, alleging that: (1) the district court lacked jurisdiction because the tribal courts have exclusive jurisdiction to punish Indians for crimes committed on Indian land; and (2) § 1153 is unconstitutional because the disparity in treatment of Indians and non-Indians for the same offense denied Broncheau’s right to due process and equal protection. At the hearing on the motion to dismiss, Broncheau additionally alleged that the indictment was jurisdictionally defective because it did not allege that Broncheau was an enrolled Indian. He further argued that if enrollment did not have to be pleaded, § 1153 was void for vagueness.

Upon the district court’s denial of the motion to dismiss and pursuant to a plea bargaining agreement, Broncheau entered a plea of guilty to the lesser included misdemeanor offense of simple assault, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1153 and 113(e). In entering his plea of guilty, Broncheau admitted that he was an enrolled Nez Perce Indian and had…