Interior
Department attorney advised BIA officials that the court's practice of
not providing a jury trial violated rights secured by the Indian Civil
Rights Act.[43]
1985: Senator Boschwitz and Representative Stangeland requested the U.S. Comptroller General to investigate the Red Lake system, which they never did, as I understand it.[44]
May 1985: Two prisoners were released by a Federal district judge on the grounds that they had
__________1985: Senator Boschwitz and Representative Stangeland requested the U.S. Comptroller General to investigate the Red Lake system, which they never did, as I understand it.[44]
May 1985: Two prisoners were released by a Federal district judge on the grounds that they had
[42] (...continued)
Band of Chippewa Indians, printed in Washington, D.C. Hearing, supra
note 4, at 321, 329, where the tribe defends its lack of jury trials:
In fact, in 1982 the budget of the Red Lake Court, funded
solely by the BIA, was grossly inadequate, and included no funds for
jury trials. It is unreasonable to expect people who have low
paying jobs by day to refrain from working and serve on a jury without
pay, especially to participate in a system which in many ways is not a
part of their cultural understanding. Today jury trials are held
upon request.
The above Minneapolis Star and Tribune
article points out that in 1984 the tribe "paid law firms in Duluth and
Washington, D.C. more than $140,000 in fees and expenses."
Schmickle & Buoen, supra
note 4, at 159.[43] Schmickle and Buoen, supra note 43, reprinted as Exhibit 4 in the Washington, D.C. Hearing, supra note 4, at 159.
[44] See Schmickle and Buoen, U.S. reluctant to curb tribal court abuses, Minneapolis Star and Tribune, Jan. 7, 1986, at 1A, Exhibit 4, reprinted as Exhibit 4, Washington, D.C. Hearing, supra note 4, at 186.
