Location: Pauma Valley, California
Hello, Me and a group of friends went to a casino that was on a federal land, I wasnt aware of it because it was my first time going to the area, I lived about 80 miles away. one of my friend Kyle (passenger of my car) who is 18, got caught taking alcohol out of my car when he went to smoke with a group of my friends that was chilling in a different car, The security of the casino went to confront him, he made the whole situation worse when he decided to run away. The security called the cops. I was inside the casino getting food with one of my other friend David 18 (one of my passenger) when this had happened. When the cops arrived they got the security to go inside the casino to come get me and david because they wanted to speak with us. they explained what happened and told us that they saw on camera that Kyle came out of my car with alcohol in his hands, so they searched my car and found my friends backpack that had vodka and beer. Now me and my friend david got a citation that stated “TRIBAL ORDINANCE SECTION 12.D.3 – possesion of alcohol under the age of 21”. I am 19 and I dont drink alcohol and the alcohol that was found wasn’t even mine. Me and David has to go to a tribal court that is in the area of the casino, we have the same date and time. I have no experience with tribal court and this is my first time hearing it. I currently dont have the money for a lawyer right now and I dont want my parents to find out. I feel like I didnt do anything wrong.
Comments
You need a criminal defense attorney, one that is qualified and experienced in Native American court. You don’t want a conviction on your record, and you need to have a better defense than “I don’t feel I did anything wrong”. If it was your car, there was alcohol in the car, and you’re under 21, then yeah, it sounds like you meet the conditions of the citation.
NAL- tribal courts don’t have jurisdiction over you once you leave the reservation, especially if you’re non native. They are considered sovereign and outside state/local laws. They can’t come collect you and they won’t bother trying to give this to local police, local cops wouldn’t bother anyway.
With that said, an ordinance violation is a minor offense and likely will be just a fine.