Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas v. Chacon

• Decision Date: 06 April 1999
• Docket Number: No. Civ.A. DR-99-CA-14-OG.,Civ.A. DR-99-CA-14-OG.
• Citation: 46 F.Supp.2d 644
• Parties: KICKAPOO TRADITIONAL TRIBE OF TEXAS, Plaintiffs, v. Martha CHACON and the State of Texas, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Texas

46 F.Supp.2d 644

KICKAPOO TRADITIONAL TRIBE OF TEXAS, Plaintiffs, v. Martha CHACON and the State of Texas, Defendants.

No. Civ.A. DR-99-CA-14-OG.

United States District Court, W.D. Texas, Del Rio Division.

April 6, 1999.

Roberto L. Rodriguez, Attorney at Law, Eagle Pass, TX, Ricardo Calderon, Attorney at Law, San Antonio, TX, for plaintiffs.

Michael Winget-Hernandez, Assistant Attorney General of Texas, Austin, TX, Ernest G. Mireles, Maverick County Attorney, Eagle Pass, TX, for defendants.

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS' REQUEST FOR EMERGENCY RELIEF, VACATING TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER AND GRANTING JUDGMENT IN FAVOR OF DEFENDANTS ON THE MERITS

ORLANDO L. GARCIA, District Judge.

The issue in this case is whether the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas (the "Tribe") can prevent authorities of the State of Texas from disinterring the body of one of its tribe members, Ms. Norma Rodriguez, in order to conduct an autopsy to determine how she died. It brings into play the clash between the Tribe's sincerely held religious beliefs and the State's interest in assuring that the death was not the result of foul play. In the emergency motion now before the Court, the State of Texas and Martha Chacon ask the Court to dissolve a temporary restraining order entered by the state court to prevent exhumation "because the body which is the subject of the inquest was not embalmed, and as a result of its interment, is rapidly losing value as a source of information about the circumstances of the death of Norma Rodriguez." (Mot. at 3.) For the reasons explained below, the State and Chacon's motion is granted and judgment is entered in their favor on the Tribe's claims in this lawsuit.¹

I. Factual and Procedural History.

The following summarizes the central facts surrounding this dispute as revealed in the hearing conducted on March 15 and 16, 1999. Other facts are discussed as they become relevant to the Court's legal analysis.

Late in the afternoon of March 2, 1999, Sulema Garza notified emergency personnel that she observed her friend, Norma Rodriguez, having breathing problems. Rodriguez was in her locked home located across the street from the Kickapoo reservation in Eagle Pass, Texas. By the time EMS arrived, Rodriguez was dead. Sheriff's deputies notified Martha Chacon, a Justice of the Peace for Maverick County, of these events, and she arrived at the scene a short time later. The deputies informed Chacon that they were aware that Rodriguez was an inhalant abuser and that they suspected she had died from inhalant (spray paint) poisoning. Chacon then examined Rodriguez's nose, mouth, hands and body for signs of spray paint, but found none. No items indicating that Rodriguez had recently inhaled paint were found near the body.

Chacon then interviewed Garza to determine what she knew about the circumstances of Rodriguez's death. Garza related that the decedent had a prior history of high blood pressure, but that it had been under control and that Rodriguez had not been taking any medications. Chacon also interviewed the decedent's mother, Gloria Elizondo, who had arrived at the scene. According to Chacon, Elizondo was distraught and stated that "somebody killed her, I know somebody killed her." At that point, given the lack of evidence on or around the body that Rodriguez had died from inhaling paint and her mother's statement that someone had killed Rodriguez, Chacon determined that an autopsy was necessary to determine cause of death. She asked Elizondo if she would agree with that decision, and Elizondo allegedly did. Chacon then verbally instructed a deputy to inform the funeral director, Rodolfo Guerrera, that she had ordered an autopsy and that the body should be transported to Bexar County for that purpose.².

Chacon returned to her office, notified the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office that she had requested an autopsy, and prepared an order authorizing it. While there, she received a telephone call from the funeral director, who indicated that he was receiving conflicting instructions about his disposition of the body from persons still at Rodriguez's home. According to Chacon, the funeral director stated that Raul Garza, the Tribe's chief, insisted that no autopsy be done. Chacon testified that she made it plain to the director that she had ordered the autopsy.

When she went home that evening, Chacon received numerous telephone calls from Tribe members and County officials trying to dissuade her from following through with the autopsy. In response to these calls, Chacon agreed to a meeting at the tribal office that night, arriving there at approximately 10:30 p.m. Chacon requested to meet privately with the decedent's mother, Ms. Elizondo, to confirm that Elizondo understood what an autopsy was and, with that understanding, would continue to acquiesce in Chacon's decision to order one. Elizondo allegedly again stated that she believed someone had killed her daughter, that she knew what an autopsy was, and that she did not object to Chacon's decision. Other tribe members present at that meeting attempted to convince Chacon that it was clear that Rodriguez had died from inhalant poisoning and that an autopsy was not necessary. They produced a bag full of items taken from the decedent's back yard, primarily paint cans, paper cups with paint in them and a T-shirt with gold paint on it.³ Chacon testified that, at the conclusion of the meeting, she made clear to those present that she had not changed her mind about the need for an autopsy.

After returning home, Chacon received a telephone call from Ricardo Calderon, an attorney for the Tribe, in the early morning hours of March 3. Chacon stated that Calderon explained the nature of the Tribe's religious beliefs and the reasons why an autopsy was contrary to those beliefs. He again requested Chacon to change her mind. According to Chacon, she nevertheless told Calderon that her position on the autopsy had not changed.⁴

Later that morning, when Chacon went in to work, she received a telephone call from an employee of the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office regarding when he could expect Rodriguez's body to arrive. Chacon responded that she would check with the funeral home. When she called the funeral home, however, an employee informed her that the body was not there and that it had been buried on tribal land. Chacon then issued the order that is the centerpiece of this dispute: the order for the disinterment and autopsy of the body of Norma Rodriguez.

Upon learning of the unauthorized burial of the body, Chacon also contacted the District Attorney, who indicated he would investigate the matter further. According to Chacon, the District Attorney called a meeting in his office in the afternoon of March 4, at which tribal representatives once again presented Chacon with information that they asserted established the cause of death as inhalant poisoning. Chacon remained unconvinced and refused to rescind her disinterment and autopsy order. The Tribe then attempted to appeal Chacon's decision to County Court, but Chacon thwarted that effort by refusing to sign an appeal bond. Consequently, on March 8, the Tribe filed the instant declaratory judgment action in the 293rd Judicial District in Maverick County, naming both the State and Chacon as defendants.

In its petition, the Tribe asserted two claims. First, it alleged that Chacon's disinterment and autopsy order was "invalid and void as the procedures set out in the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act were not complied with," (Pet. at 2), and second, that "[s]uch action would amount to an unlawful interference with the religious beliefs of the [Tribe]," (id.) In addition, the Tribe moved ex parte for an order temporarily restraining enforcement of Chacon's order, which the state court granted within minutes of the action's filing.

On March 11, the State removed this action to federal court, premising jurisdiction on existence of a federal question under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. See 25 U.S.C. § 3013 (establishing federal court jurisdiction over "any action brought by any person alleging a violation" of the Act); see also 28 U.S.C. § 1362 (providing for federal court jurisdiction over civil actions brought by Indian tribes arising under the federal constitution or federal law). The State and Chacon filed the instant motion for emergency relief the following day, seeking an order from this Court vacating the state court's ex parte temporary restraining order.

II. Procedural Issues.

The State and Chacon do not expressly state the procedural basis for their motion; however, the Court construes it as one for relief under Fed.R.Civ.P. 65. Determining which party bears the burden on the motion, however, is complicated by its history in state court. At the time of removal, the Tribe had obtained an ex parte temporary restraining order from state court. Hearing on its request for preliminary injunctive relief was set for the morning of March 16, 1999. Had the case not been removed, the Tribe clearly would have borne the burden at that hearing to demonstrate its entitlement to continued injunctive relief. Consequently, by the instant motion, Defendants have effectively expedited that hearing by one half of one day, which, as a consequence of removal, was conducted by this Court. Viewing the procedural history in this manner, the Tribe bears the burden to establish its entitlement to an injunction against enforcement of the disinterment and autopsy order.⁵ Unfortunately, none of the parties adheres to this view.

At the hearing on the motion, the Court requested the parties address the proper allocation of the burden of proof. Both sides stated their position that Defendants, as movants, and not the Tribe, carried the burden to show that the temporary restraining order must be vacated. While the Court does not agree to this assignment of the burden of proof,...