State v. Clark

Summary

The Washington Supreme Court held that the State could issue and execute a search warrant for tribal trust land within the Colville Indian Reservation when investigating a crime committed on reservation fee land over which the State had jurisdiction. Federal law did not preempt the State's authority, and the Colville Tribes had not adopted procedures governing the execution of state search warrants. The court affirmed Michael Allen Clark's first-degree theft conviction and the denial of his motion to suppress.

Holdings

1. Washington had jurisdiction over the theft because the alleged crime occurred on fee land within the boundaries of the Colville Indian Reservation.
2. The lack of an express statutory provision authorizing state search warrants for tribal lands did not deprive the Okanogan County District Court of authority to issue the warrant or the Omak police of authority to execute it.
3. The State did not infringe tribal sovereignty by executing its own warrant without first obtaining or attempting to obtain a tribal warrant because the Colville Tribes had not adopted a governing procedure regulating execution of state criminal process.
4. The evidence was not subject to suppression because the state warrant was validly issued and executed, and the search did not violate the Fourth Amendment or tribal sovereignty.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Washington's jurisdiction over a crime committed on reservation fee land authorizes a state court to issue and state officers to execute a search warrant for tribal trust property within the reservation.
2. Whether execution of the state search warrant infringed the Colville Tribes' sovereignty because the State did not obtain or attempt to obtain a tribal search warrant or otherwise follow tribal procedures.

Disposition

affirmed