DISCLAIMER: The following unofficial case summaries are prepared by the clerk's office
as a courtesy to the reader. They are not part of the opinion of the court.
143890P.pdf 07/01/2016 United States v. Santana Drapeau
U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 14-3890
U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota - Pierre
[PUBLISHED] [Wollman, Author, with Loken and Bye, Circuit Judges]
Criminal case - Criminal law and sentencing. In prosecution for assault
and domestic assault by a habitual offender, the district court did not
err in admitting testimony regarding the facts underlying defendant's
three prior tribal-court convictions for domestic abuse as the evidence
was relevant to show the assaults had occurred and that the testifying
victim was a spouse or intimate partner, both of which are elements of the
offense under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 117; the court's giving of limiting
instruction mitigated any prejudicial effect of the testimony; the Sixth
Amendment right to counsel does not apply to tribal-court proceedings and
the use of validly obtained tribal court convictions as predicate offenses
under Section 117 does not violate the Constitution even if defendant did
not have counsel at the proceedings.