A petition for a “Writ of Certiorari” to the Supreme Court filed in December regarding Vance Norton versus the Ute Indian Tribe has been denied. The petition questioned a Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals decision to allow exhaustion by Tribal Court on the trespassing claim in the Todd Murray case. Norton’s lawyer, Jesse Trentadue, says this means they “must try the issue of jurisdiction in the Ute Tribal Court. That is not, however, a trial on the merits of the Ute Tribe’s trespass claim,” continues Trentadue. “It is simply a trial to determine IF the Tribal Court has the jurisdiction to hear the case on the merits. The federal court case remains open. Therefore, once we get a decision from the Tribal Court, we go back to the federal court for an injunction.” A press release from the Ute Indian Tribe following the February 20th announcement claims the denial is a “significant victory” in strengthening the jurisdiction of the Tribal Court and alleges that this means Norton will now be made to testify before a Tribal Court Judge on questions of evidence in the Todd Murray case. Specifically, the Tribe and Murray family continue to allege that Norton intentionally shot and killed Mr. Murray and that officers destroyed evidence and failed to collect evidence. Trentadue is quick to counter this claim and any claim that Murray’s death was anything but suicide. “Todd Murray killed himself,” states Trentadue. “After years of litigation, the United States District Court found that Todd Murray had in fact committed suicide. The District Court found that ‘The evidence clearly shows that Murray shot himself.” Thereafter, on appeal, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court’s finding of suicide. In doing so, the Court of Appeals stated that,
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, ‘Although the question of who inflicted Murray’s fatal gunshot wound is certainly material, there is no genuine dispute of fact that the shooter was anyone but Murray himself,’
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. Despite what the Ute Tribe is now saying in its Press Release,” continues Trentadue, “there will be NO retrial about Murray’s suicide. As for the Ute Tribal Court proceedings, the Ute Tribal Court is required to provide the United States District Court with the reasons why it believes that a trespass claim can be heard in Tribal Court and after that ruling, we go back to the United States District Court to enjoin the Tribal Court from further proceedings.”
*BACKGROUND* Todd Murray, a member of the Ute Indian Tribe, was a passenger in a high speed chase in 2007 that ended within the reservation. After the car crashed, the car’s occupants ran including Murray who fired a gun at the pursuing officer before trying to hide and died from what the medical examiner concluded was a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head. In the years since, Murray’s parents and the tribe have filed multiple lawsuits and appeals alleging the officers illegally pursued Murray onto the reservation, that an officer killed him, and then made it look like a suicide. When before the United States District Court it was ruled that Murray had committed suicide and there had been no spoliation of evidence as was alleged. The matter was then brought before the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals which again affirmed that decision. Appealed yet again, the judge last July held that the officers cannot be tried in Ute Tribal Court for wrongful death, maintaining that the Tribe does not have tribal civil jurisdiction over the officers. The judge did, however, make one exception from a previous ruling, allowing exhaustion by Tribal Court on the trespassing claim prompting Norton to petition for the “Writ of Certiorari” in December which was denied on February 20th.
