News Release
Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation
For the second time in five years, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has reversed the dismissal of a lawsuit brought under the “bad man” clause of the 1868 Ute Treaty, a suit that seeks to hold the United States responsible for the 2007 shooting death of 21-year old Todd Murray, an enrolled member of the Ute Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation.
On February 16, 2022, the Federal Circuit Court vacated an order of dismissal the United States had obtained in Jones v. United States, 846 F.3d 1343 (Fed. Cir. 2017) (Jones I); 2022 WL 473032 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 16, 2022) (Jones II). This time, the Court of Appeals reinstated and remanded the case with an even stronger ruling in favor of Murray’s family than what the Circuit Court had first entered with its initial ruling in the case in 2017.
The 21-year old Murray was fatally shot to death on April 1, 2007, after the car in which he was a passenger was pursued by Utah state, county and local police officers more than 25 miles inside the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, where none of the state officers had law enforcement authority over tribal members. After the Utah state officers stopped the vehicle and arrested the driver, the officers then began pursuing Mr. Murray on foot and in state police vehicles. Shortly thereafter, Murray sustained a fatal bullet wound to the left side of his head, behind his left ear. There are discrepancies in the accounts of the Utah state officers who were on the scene, but off-duty Vernal City Police Officer Vance Norton maintains that Murray shot himself. The Murray family, however, has consistently maintained that Mr. Murray was right-handed and that it was impossible for him to have shot himself as Norton alleged.
The responsibility for investigating Mr. Murray’s death fell to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); however, the FBI conducted no investigation whatsoever, and no autopsy was ever performed on Murray. In fact, FBI agents allowed the Utah state officers to desecrate Murray’s body and to illegally draw blood from his body in vials that were then never logged into evidence. The FBI also allowed the gun Murray allegedly had in his possession to be destroyed without first being examined for fingerprints or other forensic evidence.
In 2009 the Murray family instituted a federal civil rights suit against the Utah state officers involved in Murray’s death; however, that lawsuit was dismissed on various grounds including the lack of evidence and the state officers’ qualified immunity from suit. In 2013, the Murray family filed suit against the United States, seeking damages under the “Bad Man” clause of the tribe’s 1868 Treaty with the United States. That clause allows tribal members to sue the United States for damages that have been caused by “bad white men” who have come onto the Reservation and caused damages to tribal members.
Since 2013, the United States has strenuously defended against the Murray family’s suit, asserting a multitude of arguments including the patently absurd argument that federal law enforcement officers cannot be deemed as “bad men” under the 1868 Treaty. The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has just as consistently rejected the United States’ arguments.
At long last it now appears the Murray family’s “Bad Man” suit against the United States will go to trial and be decided on the merits. Shaun Chapoose, Chairman of the Ute Indian Tribe Business Committee, hailed this latest ruling from the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. Chairman Chapoose said, “Both the Utah state officers and the FBI showed a callous disregard for the life of 21-year old Todd Murray, and the suffering endured by his family due to his senseless and unnecessary death.” Chairman Chapoose added that the Murray family’s Bad Man suit is “important to every individual member of the Ute Tribe because it means that State officers cannot come onto our Reservation and injure or kill our tribal members without a federal investigation being conducted — it means the FBI cannot sit by idly when our tribal members are injured or killed.”
About the Ute Indian Tribe
The Ute Indian Tribe resides on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in northeastern Utah. Three bands of Utes comprise the Ute Indian Tribe: the Whiteriver Band, the Uncompahgre Band and the Uintah Band. The tribe has a membership of more than three thousand individuals, with over half living on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation. The Ute Indian Tribe operates its own tribal government and oversees approximately 1.3 million acres of trust land which contains significant oil and gas deposits. The Tribal Business Committee is the governing council of the tribe.
