Court Opinion

ID: 9457562
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 20:25:43.246626+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:35:24.321494
License: Public Domain

MATTHES, Chief Judge.
The Major Crimes Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1153,1 creates federal jurisdiction over enumerated offenses when committed by Indians on Indian reservations. Appellant, an Indian, was charged under the act with having assaulted his wife, on a South Dakota reservation, with intent to do great bodily injury by stabbing her with a knife. A jury found him guilty, and he has appealed from the judgment of conviction.
Several errors are alleged on appeal, the most significant being the district court’s refusal to instruct the jury on the lesser offense of simple assault. Evidence adduced at trial tended to place in controversy the question of whether appellant had possessed the intent to inflict great bodily injury requisite for conviction of the charged greater offense.2 The evidence established clearly that appellant was rather drunk at the time of the assault, having been drinking rubbing alcohol and wine for several hours prior thereto. Further, appellant claimed to have discovered his wife and brother engaged in sexual intercourse immediately prior to the attack. Finally, appellant testified that at the time of the assault he had not intended to injure his wife.
Claimed as error also was the admission into evidence of a knife, allegedly used in the assault and found on appellant’s person shortly thereafter. Objection to the knife’s admissibility is premised largely upon some weakness in the testimony as to whether a knife actually was the instrument of the assault and upon the failure of government investigators to conduct tests for blood traces and fingerprints on the weapon.
*325Other alleged errors include denial of a motion for acquittal based upon insufficiency of the evidence to support the conviction, a purportedly prejudicial response by the court to a jury inquiry, and the admission into evidence of a signed statement and waiver of rights.
We consider first whether the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on the lesser offense of simple assault. This question turns upon a determination of whether section 1153 is sufficiently broad in scope to have vested in the district court jurisdiction to consider, and thus to instruct upon, the lesser offense.
We agree with the district court that the instruction could not properly have been given in this case. The Major Crimes Act recognizes only aggravated assaults, and one looks in vain for another statute conferring jurisdiction upon federal courts to convict Indians of simple assault, at least where the offense is alleged to have been committed on a reservation.
We reject the contention that such jurisdiction arises by implication from section 1153. The Supreme Court ruled in Todd v. United States, 158 U.S. 278, 15’ S.Ct. 889, 39 L.Ed. 982 (1895), that
[i]t is axiomatic that statutes creating and defining crimes cannot be extended by intendment, and that no act, however wrongful, can be punished under such a statute unless clearly within its terms. There can be no constructive offenses, and, before a man can be punished, his case must be plainly and unmistakably within the statute. 158 U.S., at 282, 15 S.Ct. at 890.
This court applied this principle of strict construction to section 1153 in United States v. Davis, 429 F.2d 552 (8th Cir. 1970), where we observed that an Indian charged with an aggravated assault could not be convicted in federal court of the lesser offense of simple assault. 429 F.2d, at 554.3
It is argued that such a construction of section 1153, by which Indians are denied an instruction available to white men, invests the statute with a racially discriminatory effect and renders it vio-lative of the constitutional guarantee of equal protection. We turn now to a consideration of this argument.
To be noted at the outset is that, although the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment does not apply to the federal government, federal discrimination may be so gross as to be unconstitutional by virtue of the Fifth Amendment’s due process guarantee. Bolling v. Sharpe, 347 U.S. 497, 499, 74 S.Ct. 693, 98 L.Ed. 884 (1954). Next, it hardly needs to be observed that section 1153 is founded upon a racial classification and, as illustrated here, may in some respects result in further racial distinctions. It is clear also that racial classifications are “constitutionally suspect,” Hunter v. Erickson, 393 U.S. 385, 392, 89 S.Ct. 557, 21 L. Ed.2d 616 (1969), and subject to the “most rigid scrutiny.” Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214, 216, 65 S. Ct. 193, 89 L.Ed. 194 (1944).
We recognize also, however, that racial classifications initially are only suspect, and are unconstitutional only if invidious or capricious. Whether a given classification is consistent with due process depends upon the context in *326which the classification is made, and history is relevant to this inquiry. Cohen v. Hurley, 366 U.S. 117, 129-130, 81 S.Ct. 954, 6 L.Ed.2d 156 (1961). We have examined the context in which the distinction here at issue arises, and we conclude that neither the racial classification underlying all of section 1153, nor the procedural effect of denying Indians instructions on lesser offenses, is unconstitutional.
The constitutionality of the underlying racial classification is apparent from the history of the relationship between the federal government and the Indians. That relationship from the beginning has been characterized as resembling that of guardian and ward. See, e. g., Board of Commissioners of Creek County, Okl. v. Seber, 318 U.S. 705, 718, 63 S.Ct. 920, 87 L.Ed. 1094 (1943); United States v. Kagama, 118 U.S. 375, 383-384, 6 S.Ct. 1109, 30 L.Ed. 228 (1886); Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 30 U.S. (5 Pet.) 1, 17, 8 L.Ed. 25 (1831). The Supreme Court held in United States v. Thomas, 151 U.S. 577, 14 S.Ct. 426, 38 L.Ed. 276 (1894), that as an incident of its guardianship the United States
have full authority to pass such laws * * * as may be necessary to give to these people full protection in their persons and property, and to punish all offenses committed against them or by them within [federally granted] reservations. 151 U.S., at 585, 14 S. Ct., at 429.4
The remaining question is whether Congress, having elected to afford federal recognition to certain Indian offenses, properly may decline to create federal jurisdiction over all Indian offenses. This question is colored by the likelihood that such selectiveness will result in racially tinged procedural distinctions such as the one here at issue. We conclude, however, that distinctions created through Congressional restraint in enacting Indian criminal legislation are neither invidious nor capricious and are, in fact, generally beneficial to Indians. This is so basically because Indian tribal courts have inherent jurisdiction over all internal criminal matters not taken over by the federal government. United States v. Quiver, 241 U.S. 602, 36 S.Ct. 699, 60 L.Ed. 1196 (1916); Iron Crow v. Oglala Sioux Tribe, 231 F.2d 89 (8th Cir. 1956). Several recent law review commentaries have discussed the centrality of tribal courts to the preservation of Indian identity and the proper and efficient administration of justice on the reservations.5 Further, the Indian population itself has demonstrated its *327objection to interference with the tribal court system.6 Finally, it is clear that Congress has been both mindful and solicitous of the importance to Indians of tribal government and courts. See, e. g., 25 U.S.C. §§ 476, 477,1301 et seq.
Given this perspective, it would be difficult indeed for us to ascribe to Congress an invidious motivation for its reluctance to assert federal jurisdiction over minor criminal offenses committed by Indians on reservations. Nor do we think that the particular discriminatory effect relied upon here overbalances the value of leaving with the tribal courts jurisdiction over such offenses. Cf., United States ex rel. De Flumer v. Mancusi, 443 F.2d 940 (2nd Cir. 1971).
We uphold also the admission into evidence of the knife allegedly used by appellant in the assault. Viewing the evidence most favorably to the prosecution, we find ample support for the government’s contentions that the assault was committed with a knife and that the knife found in appellant’s possession was that used in the assault.
The claim that the evidence was insufficient to sustain a conviction must be rejected. This contention is based primarily upon the element of intent, and there was substantial evidence from which the jury could and did find, under proper instructions, that appellant assaulted his wife with intent to do great bodily harm.
Other allegations of error have been considered. They are lacking in substance.
The judgment of the district court is affirmed.

. The statute provides in pertinent part:
Any Indian who commits against the person or property of another Indian or other person any of the following offenses, namely, murder, manslaughter, rape, carnal knowledge of any female, not his wife, who has not attained the age of sixteen years, assault with intent to commit rape, incest, assault with intent to kill, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault resulting in serious bodily injury, arson, burglary, robbery, and larceny within the Indian country, shall be subject to the same laws and penalties as all other persons
committing any of the above offenses within the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States.
s£ * # * t-

. Section 1153 provides that assault resulting in serious bodily injury “shall be defined * * * in accordance with the laws of the State in which such offense was committed.” Assault with intent to do great bodily harm is defined in S.Dak. Comp.Laws 1967, § 22-18-12. Simple assault is defined in S.Dak.Comp.Laws 1967, § 22-18-1.

. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and three United States District Courts have held also that section 1153 cannot be extended to include offenses not enumerated. United States v. Rider, 282 F.2d 476 (9th Cir. 1960) ; United States v. Red Wolf, 172 F.Supp. 168 (D.Mont.1959) ; Petition of McCord, 151 F.Supp. 132, 17 Alaska 762 (D.Alas. 1957) ; United States v. Jacobs, 113 F. Supp. 203 (E.D.Wis.1953), appeal dismissed, 346 U.S. 892, 74 S.Ct. 228, 98 L.Ed. 394 (1953). If appellant’s theory were correct, the district courts would be required to instruct on lesser offenses not specifically within the terms of section 1153, thereby expanding federal jurisdiction by intendment contrarily to the firmly entrenched principle enunciated in Todd v. United States, supra.

. The Court consistently has recognized that the wardship doctrine is subject to constitutional limitations, see, e. g., United States v. Klamath and Moadoc Tribes of Indians, 304 U.S. 119, 123, 58 S.Ct. 799, 82 L.Ed. 1219 (1938), and that wardship is not destined to be the perpetual status of the Indians. Williams v. Lee, 358 U.S. 217, 220-221, 79 S.Ct. 269, 3 L.Ed.2d 251 (1959) ; Matter of Heff, 197 U.S. 488, 499, 25 S.Ct. 506, 49 L. Ed. 848 (1905). But it is equally well settled that only Congress is empowered to determine the appropriate time for relinquishment of each vestige of federal control over the Indians. See, e. g., United States v. Ramsey, 271 U.S. 467, 469, 46 S.Ct. 559, 70 L.Ed. 1039 (1926) ; Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock, 187 U.S. 553, 565, 23 S.Ct. 216, 47 L.Ed. 299 (1903).
Significant limitations of and alternatives to wardship already have been provided. Thus criminal and civil jurisdiction over Indians living on reservations in several states has been given up by the federal government, and the laws of those states now apply generally to Indians as to all other state citizens. See, e. g., 18 U.S.C. § 1162; 28 U.S.C. § 1360. Further, any state not specifically granted jurisdiction over Indian country within its boundaries may assume such jurisdiction, subject to the approval of Indian tribes which would be affected. 25 U.S.C. § 1321 et seq. Finally, even in states neither granted nor having assumed jurisdiction over Indian country, it is apparent that Indians may of their own initiative leave federal reservations and undertake the burdens and privileges of state citizenship. 8 U.S.C. § 1401(a) (2) ; U.S. Const, amend. XIV, § 1.

. Kerr, Constitutional Rights, Tribal Justice, and the American Indian, 18 J.Pub. L. 311, 330-32 (1969) ; Note, The In*327dian: The Forgotten American, 81 Harv. L.Rev. 1818, 1836-37 (1968) ; Note, The Constitutional Rights of the American Tribal Indian, 51 Va.L.Rev. 121, 136-37 (1965).

. Hearings on the Constitutional Rights of the American Indian Before the Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 87th Cong., 1st Sess., pt. 1, at 15-16 (1961).