page_title: Ex parte Crow Dog
section_title: Trial
hierarchical_section_title: Ex parte Crow Dog / Background / Trial
caption_attribution_description: English: Studio portrait, 3/4 length, of Sintegaleska (Spotted Tail), Sichangu (erroneusly classified as Oglala) Dakota Chief, wearing scarf, jacket and blanket. Copy photonegative is cropped. On glass plate: B-240.; Original image photographed by C.M. Bell. Photoprint cropped; printed by D.F. Barry at later date.
context_page_description: Ex parte Crow Dog, 109 U.S. 556, is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that followed the death of one member of a Native American tribe at the hands of another on reservation land. Crow Dog was a member of the Brulé band of the Lakota Sioux. On August 5, 1881 he shot and killed Spotted Tail, a Lakota chief; there are different accounts of the background to the killing. The tribal council dealt with the incident according to Sioux tradition, and Crow Dog paid restitution to the dead man's family. However, the U.S. authorities then prosecuted Crow Dog for murder in a federal court. He was found guilty and sentenced to hang.
  The defendant then petitioned the Supreme Court for a writ of habeas corpus, arguing that the federal court had no jurisdiction to try cases where the offense had already been tried by the tribal council. The court found unanimously for the plaintiff and Crow Dog was therefore released. This case was the first time in history that an Indian was held on trial for the murder of another Indian.
context_section_description: Following the killing and the settlement under tribal customs, the Indian agent had Crow Dog arrested and taken to Fort Niobrara, Nebraska. Within 20 days, the U.S. Attorney General and the Secretary of the Interior concluded that the Federal Enclave Act of 1854 as modified by the Assimilative Crimes Act allowed the territorial death penalty to be applied to Crow Dog.  In September 1881, Crow Dog was indicted by a federal grand jury for murder and manslaughter under the laws of the Dakota Territory. In March 1882 the case was heard by Judge Gideon C. Moody at the First Judicial District Court of Dakota, located in Deadwood, South Dakota. The court appointed A. J. Plowman to represent Crow Dog, who claimed that he had been punished and made reparations according to the customs of the Brulé Sioux tribe. According to a contemporary news report of the Deadwood Times it was the first time "in the history of the country, [that] an Indian is held for trial for the murder of another Indian." The trial was viewed at the time as a sham, and despite testimonies from Indian witnesses stating that Spotted Tail had killed a rival once before, that Spotted Tail drew a pistol on Crow Dog, and that Spotted Tail's intention was to kill Crow Dog,  Crow Dog was convicted and sentenced to be hanged on May 11, 1882.  The prosecution had presented five Indian witnesses who stated that Spotted Tail was ambushed, and some witnesses stated he was unarmed. In an unusual move for a death penalty case, Moody released Crow Dog, allowing him to go home pending his appeal to the territorial Supreme Court. Surprising many of the white citizens of the area, Crow Dog returned to court as required. In May 1882, the territorial Supreme Court affirmed the conviction, and the execution was rescheduled for May 11, 1883.  Crow Dog then petitioned the United States Supreme Court for a writ of habeas corpus and the Supreme Court accepted the case.
caption: The victim, Chief Spotted Tail (Siŋté Glešká)
exif: {}