Cravatt v. State

• Decision Date: 18 February 1992
• Docket Number: No. F-86-422,F-86-422
• Citation: 825 P.2d 277,1992 OK CR 6
• Parties: Darias CRAVATT, Jr., Appellant, v. STATE of Oklahoma, Appellee.
• Court: United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma

Page 277

825 P.2d 277

Darias CRAVATT, Jr., Appellant, v.STATE of Oklahoma, Appellee.

No. F-86-422.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma.

Feb. 18, 1992.

An Appeal from the District Court of Johnston County; Stanley L. Anderson, Associate District Judge.

DARIAS CRAVATT, JR., Appellant, was tried by jury for the crimes of Murder in the First Degree and Larceny of an Automobile in Case No. F-86-422 in the District Court of Johnston County before the Honorable Stanley L. Anderson, Associate District Judge.Appellant was sentenced to death for the murder and to twenty (20) years in the custody of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections for Larceny of an Automobile.The conviction for Murder in the First Degree is VACATED and REMANDED WITH INSTRUCTIONS TO DISMISS.The Judgment and Sentence for Larceny of an Automobile is AFFIRMED.

Lisbeth L. McCarty, Asst. Appellate Indigent Defender, Patti Palmer, Chief Deputy Appellate Indigent Defender, Norman, for appellant.

Susan B. Loving, Atty. Gen., Susan Stewart Dickerson, A. Diane Hammons, Asst. Attys.Gen., Oklahoma City, for appellee.

Richard B. Stewart, Asst. U.S. Atty. Gen., Edward J. Shawaker, Jacques B. Gelin, Dept. of Justice, Land & Natural Resources Div., Washington, D.C., for U.S.

Bob Rabon, Kile, Rabon & Wolf, Hugo, for Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and Chickasaw Nation.

OPINION

LANE, Presiding Judge:

After a trial by jury, Darias Cravatt, Jr., Appellant, was convicted of Murder in the First Degree (21 O.S.1981, § 701.7) and of Larceny of an Automobile (21 O.S.1981, § 1720) in the District Court of Johnston County, Case No. CRF-85-73.In conjunction with the guilty verdict on the larceny charge, the jury recommended a sentence of twenty (20) years ¹.With respect to the murder conviction, the jury found that two aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating factors and recommended the death penalty after hearing testimony during the second stage of the trial.Sentence was entered accordingly and Appellant has now perfected his appeal.

James Burnett was killed on October 23, 1985.His body was discovered in a wooded area on property owned by Appellant's parents.Burnett had been chopping wood pursuant to an arrangement with the senior Cravatts whereby he paid them for the amount of wood which he chopped and carried away.On at least two previous occasions, Appellant threatened Burnett to discontinue cutting the wood.Appellant's parents intervened the first time and again gave permission for the cutting.During another incident, he threatened Burnett with a pick axe handle.The next confrontation culminated in Burnett's murder and the theft of his truck.

Appellant's appeal of his conviction was at issue in this Court on June of 1987.The case was set for oral argument on February 13, 1990, however, on the day before the arguments were to occur, Appellant filed a motion with this Court, raising jurisdictional questions for the first time.Appellant claimed that the State had lacked jurisdiction under 18 U.S.C. § 1153(1984), to prosecute Burnett's murder because the crime was committed by an Indian on "Indian Country" as defined by 18 U.S.C. § 1151(1984)².

In response to Appellant's Motion, this Court stayed all further proceedings and requested that the parties brief the issues involved.In addition to briefs from Appellant and the State of Oklahoma, this Court also accepted briefs filed by the United States and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and the Chickasaw Nation as Amicus Curiae.On June 13, 1990, the case was remanded to the District Court for evidentiary hearing for determination of the following issues:

1.The identity of the actual situs of the murder;

2.Whether the property, indisputably restricted at one time, fit the definition of Indian Country found in 18 U.S.C. § 1151(c) at the time of the murder.

3.If the trial court determined that the property where the murder occurred was not Indian Country, it was to determine whether the property could be classified as part of a "Dependant Indian Community" as defined by § 1151(b).

The parties presented evidence to the trial court on August 20-22, and September 7, 1990.Following the hearing, the Honorable Robert M. Highsmith, in an exceptionally thorough order, made the following determinations of fact:

1."The murder of James Burnett occurred within the boundaries of the following described property:

The N/2 of NW/4, NE/4, SW/4 of Section 28, Township 1 South, Range 7 East, Johnston County, Oklahoma."

Findings of Fact and Conclusion of Law on Remand, October 10, 1990, p. 1.

2."The land described above which was the location of this murder retains an undivided 1/7 ³ restricted allotment interest and 5/7's undivided restricted interest by deed restriction as property purchased by Defendant's now deceased father with restricted funds so that the restricted Indian title has not been entirely removed or extinguished and accordingly the property is found not to be exempted from the definition of Indian Country as set forth by Congress at 18 U.S.C. 1151(c)."

Id. at p. 2.

3."The land upon which the murder occurred is not located within the boundaries of a Dependant Indian Community as defined by 18 U.S.C. § 1151(b)."

Id.

After reaching these conclusions concerning the necessary facts underlying the ultimate resolution of the issues presented, the trial court held that the property in question was "Indian Country" as defined by § 1151(c)⁴ and that state prosecution of the murder was preempted by the provisions of the Major Crimes Act, § 1153(a).In the final briefs submitted to this Court following the entry of the Order by the Trial Court, it is clear that the facts as determined by the district court are not in dispute ⁵, thus, we will adopt the findings as true for purposes of our consideration of this case.The question before us, then, is whether the trial court reached the proper conclusion of law, that being that the State was without jurisdiction to prosecute Appellant for this murder requiring reversal of the murder conviction and dismissal of the charge.

Although the United States and the State of Oklahoma are in agreement with the trial court's finding that the situs of the murder was "Indian Country," both urge us to find that the trial court's finding of federal preemption was in error.They do so, however, for different reasons.The United States asserts that "as a result of congressional enactments around the turn of the century, Oklahoma, not the United States, has exclusive criminal jurisdiction in Indian country within the former territory of the Five Civilized Tribes, and thus in this case."Second Supplemental Memorandum of the United States as Amicus Curiae, p. 3.This position has been previously argued by the United States in several other cases.The State, on the other hand, urges us to find that the present case should be treated differently because when title to property is only partially held under restriction as Indian property, "exceptional circumstances" result.We do not agree with either position and find that we must affirm the decision of the trial court.

Our conclusion is reached based on the clear language of sections 1151(c)and1153(a).We find that the position urged by the United States is untenable in light of the unequivocal language of these two sections.The United States has continuously urged different judicial treatment for incidents involving members of the five civilized tribes notwithstanding the fact that there is no foundation for this position in the statutes and that the idea has been previously rejected by the courts of this State.

The argument that Congress intended, without specifying, some sort of different treatment in cases involving a member of the Five Civilized Tribes or lands in Eastern Oklahoma, has been previously rejected by the Oklahoma Supreme Court in May v. Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma, 711 P.2d 77, 81(Okl.1986) and by this Court in State v. Klindt, 782 P.2d 401(Okl.Cr.1989).In Klindt, this Court rejected the State's argument that the land in Eastern Oklahoma, originally allotted to Indians prior to statehood, was exempted from the subsequent Congressional enactments which supplanted state jurisdiction on those properties.We recognized:

Jurisdiction over Indian Country has been given to either the states or the federal government through statutes.The Act of August 15, 1953, Pub.L. No. 88-280,67 Stat. 588(1953) provided the states permission to assume criminal and civil jurisdiction over any "Indian Country" within the borders of the state.Under this public law, Oklahoma could have, without the consent of the affected...