Legal update from July 12

OKMULGEE, Oklahoma – Mvskoke Media has updates on some of the cases being monitored in the legal system.

MCN District Court

Choctaw citizen and Tulsa police officer Micheal Bell plead no contest to charges of physical abuse of a child on July 12. Bell was arrested in April by Lighthorse PD. Bell has been sentenced to a three year deferred sentence and will have to pay a $500 fine. Bell will also be required to attend parenting courses, and be subjected to three years under supervised probation.

Muskogee (Creek) Nation National Council Representative Joseph Hicks pleaded no contest to a second misdemeanor DUI charge on July 12. Hicks was fined $250 and received no probation.

This was Hicks’ second DUI offense. The MCN Code reads as follows,

“Any person who, after a previous conviction of a violation of this section or a violation pursuant to the provisions of any law of another Indian tribe or state prohibiting the offense provided in § 1304 (A), is convicted of a second offense pursuant to the provisions of this section or has a prior conviction in a municipal criminal court of record for the violation of a municipal ordinance prohibiting the offense provided for in subsection A of this section and is convicted pursuant to the provision of this section shall be deemed guilty of a felony and shall participate in a drug and alcohol assessment and evaluation, and shall be sentenced to: 1. follow all recommendations made in the assessment and evaluation for treatment at the defendant’s expense; or 2. imprisonment for not less than one (1) year and not to exceed three (3) years and a fine of not more than Two Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($2,500.00); or 3. Treatment, imprisonment and a fine within the limitations prescribed in subparagraphs 1. and 2. of this paragraph”

It is unclear at this time how Rep. Hicks could be charged with a misdemeanor for his second offense in light of the language of MCN code.