Constitutionality – ICRA

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US Supreme Court

Case Name: United States v. Bryant

Case No.: 15-420

Focus: Constitutionality – ICRA

Because Bryant’s tribal-court convictions occurred in proceedings that complied with ICRA and were therefore valid when entered, use of those convictions as predicate offenses in a §117(a) prosecution does not violate the Constitution.

“Nichols instructs that convictions valid when entered retain that status when invoked in a subsequent proceeding. Nichols reasoned that “[e]nhancement statutes . . . do not change the penalty imposed for the earlier conviction”; rather, repeat-offender laws “penaliz[e] only the last offense committed by the defendant.” 511 U. S., at 747. Bryant’s sentence for violating §117(a) punishes his most recent acts of domestic assault, not his prior crimes prosecuted in tribal court. He was denied no right to counsel in tribal court, and his Sixth Amendment right was honored in federal court. Bryant acknowledges that Nichols would have allowed reliance on uncounseled tribal- court convictions resulting in fines to satisfy §117(a)’s prior-crimes predicate. But there is no cause to distinguish for §117(a) purposes between fine-only tribal-court convictions and valid but uncounseled tribal-court convictions resulting in imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year. Neither violates the Sixth Amendment. Bryant is not aided by Burgett. A defendant convicted in tribal court suffered no Sixth Amendment violation in the first instance, so he cannot “suffe[r] anew” from a prior deprivation in his federal prosecution”

Reversed and Remanded

Dissenting:

Concurring: THOMAS

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.