The man whose case led to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Muscogee (Creek) Nation land — and much of eastern Oklahoma — remains an Indian reservation now faces a federal trial.
Creek citizen Jimcy McGirt was convicted in state court in 1996 of raping a 4-year-old girl on tribal lands, but that conviction was vacated after the Supreme Court ruling in his favor.
McGirt, 71, was transferred from the James Crabtree Correctional Center to the Muskogee County Jail earlier this week and has been charged in federal court to prevent his release.
Death row inmate Patrick Murphy, also a Creek Nation citizen, remains in the state penitentiary but is also facing a new trial in federal court.