Post by blackcrowheart on May 17, 2007 13:31:19 GMT -5
Cherokee tribe gives self authority to banish members for drug dealing
By Mike Baker ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH, N.C. – Members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians who
are convicted of drug dealing will be banished from the reservation
under a law signed Thursday by its principal chief.
Banishment is a harsh penalty previously reserved for extreme
circumstances – such as when a member is convicted of committing a
sexual offense against minors.
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s.com> Federal law allows the tribe to sentence people to up to a year
in prison and a $5,000 fine. "But the tribe's most powerful –
and one of the remaining inherent powers we have – is to say who can
be here and who can't," said Michael McConnell, attorney general for
the tribe.
The Tribal Council will be able to determine the length of an exclusion,
and a member convicted of dealing drugs will be able to petition the
panel to return. Non-members also can be banished.
Similar laws have been adopted by the Lummi Nation of Washington, the
Chippewa of Grand Portage, Minn., and the Upper Sioux Community, also of
Minnesota.
The Eastern Band of Cherokee has a membership of about 13,500. Its land
is about 50 miles west of Asheville near the entrance of the Great Smoky
Mountains National Park.
Though the tribal law may dump drug offenders to nearby counties,
Sheriff Jimmy Ashe in neighboring Jackson County said the law is "a
good way for the Cherokee community to impress that they won't stand for
drug dealing."
By Mike Baker ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH, N.C. – Members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians who
are convicted of drug dealing will be banished from the reservation
under a law signed Thursday by its principal chief.
Banishment is a harsh penalty previously reserved for extreme
circumstances – such as when a member is convicted of committing a
sexual offense against minors.
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s.com> Federal law allows the tribe to sentence people to up to a year
in prison and a $5,000 fine. "But the tribe's most powerful –
and one of the remaining inherent powers we have – is to say who can
be here and who can't," said Michael McConnell, attorney general for
the tribe.
The Tribal Council will be able to determine the length of an exclusion,
and a member convicted of dealing drugs will be able to petition the
panel to return. Non-members also can be banished.
Similar laws have been adopted by the Lummi Nation of Washington, the
Chippewa of Grand Portage, Minn., and the Upper Sioux Community, also of
Minnesota.
The Eastern Band of Cherokee has a membership of about 13,500. Its land
is about 50 miles west of Asheville near the entrance of the Great Smoky
Mountains National Park.
Though the tribal law may dump drug offenders to nearby counties,
Sheriff Jimmy Ashe in neighboring Jackson County said the law is "a
good way for the Cherokee community to impress that they won't stand for
drug dealing."