McGirt Has Majorly Impacted Oklahoma
Video Transcribed:
Can the McGirt ruling actually expunge your criminal record in Muskogee? Hi, I’m Eric Strocen. I’m a Muskogee attorney with the Wirth Law Offices, and I’m here to talk to you today about this important topic.
Now for criminal liability purposes, what is important to note is that each sovereign, each county, has its own jurisdictional boundaries. And what McGirt did was make a lot of Oklahoma that of tribal nations, that jurisdictional boundary belongs to them. And per federal law, tribal citizens may only be prosecuted by them, or in the case of major crimes, by the federal government.
The thing is here, now the question that I’ve been getting asked a lot is, “Hey, can I use this ruling to get my record expunged from things that have happened in the past?” While I understand how this is a logical conclusion that people draw, because yes, your arrest and detention at that time wouldn’t comport with the all in that you’re a citizen of a tribal nation and you are being held by the United States government.
Right now, there’s a case up on appeal that we’re waiting to hear back about that talks about the retroactive effect of the McGirt ruling, making it very difficult right now for us to effectuate your goal of having your record expunged. We’re not getting the ability to get that retroactive effect of McGirt for sure yet.
So, there are other means through the state that we can explore if you have a situation, but right now we’re just getting a stay and it’s sitting until this decision comes down from one of the higher courts. If you have a problem that you need assistance with, you need a consultation to talk about your confidential, unique, legal matter, please reach out to us at MuskogeeAttorney.com.