Opinion ID: 2758299
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: Alvarez is an enrolled member of the Gila River Indian Community (the “Community”). In 2003, the Community charged Alvarez with assault, domestic violence, and misconduct involving a weapon (the “Charges”) after Alvarez allegedly assaulted his girlfriend with a flashlight. The Community’s tribal court arraigned Alvarez on the Charges during a group arraignment on July 3, 2003. Prior to the arraignment, Alvarez received a copy of the Community’s criminal complaint with an attached “Defendant’s Rights” form. The Defendant’s Rights form included, among others, the statement: “You have the right to appeal, if you are found ‘Guilty’, within a period of five 6 ALVAREZ V. TRACY (5) business days after sentencing.”1 This statement was consistent with the right to appeal provided by the Gila River Indian Community Code.2 The Community court also read the form at the beginning of the group arraignment. Thereafter, the court asked Alvarez individually whether he had any questions about those rights. He responded that he did not. The Community court convicted Alvarez of the Charges after a bench trial in late-2003. The court sentenced Alvarez to one year of imprisonment for each of the five Charges. The court also determined that Alvarez should serve the five years consecutively with other time for separate crimes for which Alvarez was convicted—bringing his total prison term to nine years. Alvarez did not appeal his conviction or sentences. At some point, Alvarez filed a motion for commutation of his sentence. Although Alvarez failed to raise any ICRA claims in the motion for commutation, it is unclear whether tribal 1 The form also stated: “You have a right to a jury trial.” 2 Section 2.1236(A) of the Gila River Indian Community Code, at the time, provided: The Community, or any party to a prosecution by information or complaint may appeal as prescribed in this Code. A defendant shall have the right to appeal his conviction or sentence in a criminal action. A petition for appeal must be filed within five days after the decision, order, decree, or judgment of a court, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays observed by the Community Court. (emphasis added). ALVAREZ V. TRACY 7 procedure allowed him to assert such grounds. In any event, the Community court denied the motion for commutation, because Alvarez’s disciplinary infractions in prison made him ineligible for commutation. In 2008, Alvarez filed a pro se habeas corpus petition (the “Petition”) under 25 U.S.C. § 1303, challenging his convictions and sentences. Alvarez raised a number of alleged ICRA violations.3 The Community moved to dismiss the Petition, arguing that Alvarez failed to exhaust his tribal remedies. The Community argued that Alvarez should have brought: (1) a motion to commute that included the ICRA claims raised in the Petition; (2) a petition for writ of habeas corpus to the Community; or (3) “a motion to correct his sentence.” Both the assigned magistrate judge and the district court rejected the Community’s exhaustion arguments and found that, even if a motion to commute were an available remedy, further attempts to exhaust through a second motion to commute would have been futile. The district court also concluded that the Community failed to show that tribal procedure allowed for a writ of habeas corpus or a “motion to correct” Alvarez’s sentence. Neither the parties nor the lower court discussed Alvarez’s failure to file a direct appeal as bearing on the exhaustion issue. The magistrate judge recommended that the district court dismiss all of Alvarez’s claims on their merits. The district 3 Alvarez was not represented in any of the proceedings before the Community courts. Eventually, the federal district court granted Alvarez’s motion to appoint counsel. However, we note that, in sharp contrast to Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963), the ICRA does not provide a right to appointed counsel free of charge. See 25 U.S.C. § 1302(a)(6); Tom v. Sutton, 533 F.2d 1101, 1103–04 (9th Cir. 1976). 8 ALVAREZ V. TRACY court adopted the recommendation. Alvarez timely appealed, challenging the dismissal of his Confrontation Clause and right to jury trial claims.