MILLER, S.D. ? Two local teen-agers accused of shooting at a vehicle carrying fans and players from the Crow Creek girls basketball team will be tried as juveniles, a South Dakota circuit judge ruled recently.
The decision has raised more questions about equality in the South Dakota justice system and upset tribal leaders who feel Native people are dealt with more harshly than their white counterparts.
Third District Circuit Judge Jon R. Erickson said in a March 20 written decision that the alleged actions constituted “a very serious crime” and “an aggressive and violent act.” However, based on the evidence presented, wrote the judge, the juvenile court system could more adequately handle both youths.
The five Lakota and Dakota students from Crow Creek High School and their 20-year-old friend were not injured in the Nov. 1 shooting, but relatives say the girls suffered emotionally. The incident began when the girls stopped at a local fast-food restaurant for dinner after a basketball game. The girls accused the Miller teens of harassing them and taunting them with obscenities and vulgar gestures. The confrontation sparked a car chase that ended when the Miller teen-ager allegedly fired a shotgun at the pick up in which the girls were riding.
Some tribal leaders and American Indian groups maintain that the Miller teen-agers, all of whom are white, should have been prosecuted in adult court for more serious crimes. They are also angry about a delay in arrests and prosecution. Crow Creek Tribal Chairwoman Roxanne Sazue told reporters, “I am shocked. They should have been charged as adults. We’ll have to wait and see what happens now.”
Sisseton-Wahpeton Tribal Vice President Jake Thompson, whose niece Jessica Squirrel Coat, was in the pickup with the girls from Crow Creek, said he was disappointed with the outcome, but will seek other avenues.
“The court system is unequal and unfair whether it is our Native youth or adults. The state criminal justice system was more concerned with the rehabilitation of the non-Indian perpetrators rather than the wrongs committed against young, unarmed females,” he said.
“A lot of people believe there isn’t fair and equal treatment in the judicial system when it comes to Native Americans in the state of South Dakota,” he said.
Squirrel Coat returned to school at Crow Creek where her family has a long history as alumni and honored athletes. Her grandparents attended the Crow Creek school. Squirrel Coat has received offers from colleges and universities all over the country including a California institution offering her a full athletic scholarship.
“She followed a tradition and we expect her to achieve her goals and enjoy life,” Thompson said. “It is definitely a setback and as a family we have support and take care of her. This was devastating to them. This was a hostile environment they went into and it was a terrorist act.”
“These girls were shot at. You can’t just shoot weapons and get away with it in South Dakota. They were victims. That is a terrorist violent act that took place. This would not be treated differently, overlooked and swept under the rug,” Thompson said.
Judge Erickson wrote that racial slurs and taunts were heard at the game prior the incident, but the comments couldn’t be attributed to the two youths, and their actions did not appear to be racially motivated.
The two youths were first charged in juvenile court with six counts of aggravated assault. Hand County State’s Attorney James Jones later filed a transfer motion to move the case to adult court.
Erickson, who identified the juveniles only by their initials in the written decision, noted that the teen who admitted shooting the gun at the three girls had no previous juvenile record.
The girls said the gun was fired four times.
The other teen, the judge wrote, “is familiar to the juvenile justice system.” He had been petitioned into the juvenile court system four times, placed on probation for grand theft and was taken to court for the reckless discharge of a firearm which resulted in the killing of a sheep. The shooting incident was the third juvenile court appearance for the youth.
While the aggravated assault charges were pending, he was charged with a series of rural burglaries, Erickson wrote, adding that the youth is a disciplinary problem at school.
Under state law, Erickson was to determine whether it was in the best interests of the child to be transferred to adult court. The court, Erickson wrote, must deny the motion if it is against the child’s interest. He added that the issues of rehabilitation and protection of society also are considered.
In juvenile court, the judge and the Department of Corrections determine sentencing. If the youths had been charged as adults with six counts each of aggravated assault, each could have faced up to 90 years in prison and $90,000 in fines.
“There not much that anybody can do at this point other than to protest because it is up to prosecutors to prosecute and there is not really much civil redress,” said Jennifer Ring, executive director for the American Civil Liberties Union of the Dakotas. “I’ve seen some people saying they ought to be charged with terrorism, but at the time South Dakota didn’t have a crime of terrorism. There would have only been the federal statute and they clearly don’t meet the elements of the federal statute.”
The teens could still face other charges.
“They could be charged with a hate crime, but I would have to look at the state law to see if they could be charged under the state law. Given what was reported by the press, the elements are there for a hate crime,” she said. “I think they should be charged as juveniles. The bigger question is if they were Native Americans would they have been charged in juvenile. The answer is probably no and that is where the injustice is.”
