Two more serving life sentences indicted in federal court due to McGirt
federal court #federalcourt
“The law on subject matter jurisdiction never being waived is well settled and in fact is not waivable,” Parnell wrote in a reply to the state’s brief.
Documents submitted on Parnell’s behalf indicate she is a member of the Quapaw Nation.
Vaught, meanwhile, is challenging his 2017 first-degree murder conviction in Tulsa County District Court on McGirt grounds, too.
Vaught now faces in federal court one count of first-degree murder in Indian Country and one count of causing death by use of a firearm during a crime of violence.
A Tulsa County jury convicted Vaught and recommended a life prison term in connection with a 2015 fatal shooting at a north Tulsa party.
Prosecutors contended Vaught shot Jose Aguirre, 20, four times in the back during a party in the 2600 block of East Newton Place.
In addition to the life sentence, a judge also ordered Vaught to serve a 15-year prison term and separate three-year term after he completed his life sentence.
Vaught claims in court filings that he has been a member of the Cherokee Nation since 1993 and the crime occurred within the tribe’s reservation, two elements that a state appellate court has said can be used in determining whether McGirt applies to a case.