Drug case may have impact on Mohawk land claims

AKWESASNE — An Akwesasne drug-smuggling case heard again by the U.S. Court of Appeals earlier this month may impact Indian land claims.

Many on the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation will be interested in the outcome of United States of America vs. Eric C. Wilson, argued Feb. 17 in the Second Circuit Court in New York City by lawyers with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District.

LOCATION A FACTOR

At issue is the location where police stopped a suspicious vehicle.

And it is important because state law allows St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Police to make arrests only on the reservation, not outside its recognized boundaries.

Those boundaries are controversial because Akwesasne Mohawks claim New York state illegally sold off portions of its designated reservation hundreds of years ago without congressional approval.

The tribe has a long-standing land-claims lawsuit pending in an attempt to get that disputed land returned.

Wilson’s case may play a part in that legal battle, but according to Second Circuit Court officials, it could take several months before a final ruling is made.

TRIBAL POLICE STOP

Tribal Police on the American side of the reservation notified Akwesasne Mohawk Police in Quebec about 9 a.m. Jan. 28, 2010, that a vehicle was headed its way on River Road.

Within minutes, the Canadian officers reported back that the same vehicle and driver had re-entered the United States.

Tribal Police Det. Sgt. Matthew Rourke, who is also an officer with the U.S. Division of Homeland Security’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Unit, heard the exchange and found the suspect car parked at Burns Truck Stop No. 9 on Route 37.

When the driver returned and began driving east, Rourke pulled the vehicle over near the intersection with Route 37C and identified the driver as Eric Wilson.

A U.S. Border Protection agent had heard the initial scanner chatter and drove to intercept the suspicious car, but Tribal Police had already made the stop and were talking with Wilson.

HOCKEY BAGS

Rourke obtained permission from the supervising customs agent to continue the investigation, as the border officer searched the car and allegedly found three hockey bags filled with 124½ pounds of marijuana in the trunk.

Wilson, indicted in February 2010 for intent to distribute 50 kilograms or more of marijuana, questioned the legality of the search.

In December 2010, appellate judges ruled in his favor, saying the stop was made 5,000 feet off reservation, meaning Tribal Police had no authority to pull him over.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office tried and failed to have that decision overturned in a ruling made Feb. 15, 2011.

ANOTHER APPEAL

But the government went back at the case again this month, saying “stopping the vehicle shortly outside the reservation did not render the stop unconstitutional,” according to court papers.

It believes the arrest occurred inside the “Bombay Triangle,” which includes the disputed land the Mohawks say was taken from them illegally.

The court documents for the U.S. Attorney’s Office stance state that the Bombay Triangle land “was reserved for the St. Regis Mohawk(s) in the treaty with the Seven Nations of Canada (1796) as part of the reservation.”

LAND CLAIM

Even though a federal lawsuit is pending to determine whether the lands were acquired through violation of the Indian Trade and Intercourse Act, the paperwork states a 1984 court decision determined that “no matter what happens to the title of the individual plots within the area, the entire block retains its reservation status until Congress explicitly indicates otherwise.

“Since the United States is not aware of any evidence that Congress has altered the reservation boundaries, the government disagrees that the stop occurred off the reservation,” the motion states.

Route 37 runs between Malone and Watertown and is situated both on and off the reservation.

Therefore, the U.S. Attorney’s Office believes, there was good cause to stop the suspect car, it was pulled over within the Tribal Police’s jurisdiction, and whatever turned up in the vehicle search was valid and can be used in prosecuting the case.