State of Washington v. Clark

This court case is active

This case involves an enrolled member of the Colville Confederated Tribes who was charged with burglary, theft, and malicious mischief by the State.  The charges stem from a 2009 burglary of a railroad depot which is located on privately owned land on the Colville Reservation. After arresting Clark, a detective from the Omak Police Department obtained a search warrant for his trailer from an Okanogan County District Court judge, but made no effort to obtain a search warrant from a judge from the Colville Confederated Tribes’ tribal court. The ACLU-WA submitted an amicus brief urging the Washington Supreme Court to rule in favor of Clark’s arguments that city police should go through tribal court first to obtain a search warrant for the home of a tribal member who lives on reservation trust land. 

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