MVSKOKE RESERVATION – Gentner Drummond, the Attorney General of Oklahoma, announced in a statement on Oct. 30 that he will be dismissing charges related to Indigenous hunting and fishing within Indian Country without a state license. According to Drummond, he will not prosecute Indigenous people who are hunting and fishing within Indian Country as long as they are abiding by tribal law.
This comes after his office decided to take over the case of Shawn Robertson, a Choctaw citizen who was charged with hunting without a license in Pushmataha County the previous week, and decided to dismiss the charges against Robertson.
This decision deepens the rift that has been growing between the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office, which has been siding with Indigenous tribes, and Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt.
Drummond directly called out Stitt for damaging the relationship between the state and its 38 tribes: “I will not permit a petulant, lame duck governor to further injure the State’s relationship with our valuable tribal partners simply because he is unwilling to compromise. This is another senseless attempt to ignore the sovereignty of the tribal nations in Oklahoma, and it cannot be tolerated.”
