Jimcy McGirt, Petitioner
Ian Heath Gershengorn, Counsel of Record
In 1997, an Oklahoma state court sentenced Jimcy McGirt to life in prison without possibility of parole for sexually molesting and assaulting the 4-year-old granddaughter of his wife. More than 20 years later, McGirt asked his trial court to throw out his conviction. He claimed that Oklahoma state court did not have jurisdiction because he was a member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and had committed the alleged offense in the Tulsa suburb of Broken Arrow, which he claimed is part of a Muscogee (Creek) Indian reservation that still exists even though it has not been recognized by the state for more than a century. Both the trial court and the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals …
