What Happens after Being Charged and Arraigned in Muscogee Creek Nation Court?

What’s Next?

You’ve been charged and arraigned in Muscogee Creek Nation. What comes next? My name is Ted Hasse. I’m an attorney practicing in federal and tribal courts in eastern Oklahoma.

What defendants will experience when they’re facing charges in Muscogee Creek Nation that’s very different from the process that they would experience in state courts is they are not entitled to a preliminary hearing. They’re not entitled to a process by which they have the chance to do an examination of the witnesses for the Nation.

Once the criminal complaint and information have been filed, the Attorney General’s Office for the Nation will either issue a summons or they will file a PC affidavit where they will present what they allege is their probable cause in support of an arrest warrant.

What Happens at the Arraignment?

Once the arraignment has been handled, a defendant pleads not guilty, the next step is not going to be anything like what can be expected in other courts. It’s simply going to be set for what’s called a disposition docket.

Once a defendant is headed to disposition, not a lot is really happening in terms of the court process there. It’s really a check-in with the court to let them know what kind of track the case is on, whether it is on a track toward a plea agreement or whether it needs to move toward some sort of hearing, perhaps a suppression hearing on a defense motion, or if it’s simply headed for trial. That’s headed for the jury docket.

What to Expect During Disposition

Jury dockets and jury terms, at least right now as of late 2023, are happening four times a year. It’s happening quarterly, now coming up, for example, we’ll be having a November jury sounding docket and then setting jury trials for December. So disposition is an important point at which the defense counsel is checking in with prosecutors about likely plea offers that are coming from the attorney general’s office from the nation and then checking in with them about all the evidence that should have been produced up to that point in the case.

Contact us for a Low-cost Consultation

If you have questions about this process, if you need help with your own case, or a loved one’s case in Muskogee Creek Nation, please do contact me at (918) 947-6552. Again, my name is Ted Hasse.