Ryan Dreveskracht, Corinne Sebren Quoted in Rolling Stone

Over the weekend, Rolling Stone magazine published an investigative article on Emanuel Fair’s wrongful imprisonment for the murder of Arpana Jinaga in 2008, and his lawsuit against the City of Redmond and the Redmond Police Department.  He is represented by Galanda Broadman.

According to the article, there was “persuasive evidence against at least six other suspects that the detectives were investigating — none of whom were Black, and none of whom spent a day in jail for Jinaga’s murder.”

Rolling Stone reports racial profiling was central to the case, with both the city and police department failing to use proper protocol in garnering evidence: “Those protocol failures, the suit alleges, in concert with the detectives’ apparent racial discrimination, deprived Emanuel Fair of his civil rights, and denied Arpana Jinaga any chance at justice.”

Ryan Dreveskracht and Corinne Sebren are both quoted in the article.

Corinne contended that “There’s very little justice left to salvage.” There is, however, a person trying to salvage a life interrupted, trying to return to life after a decade in purgatory, thanks to a legal system that still won’t concede it’s done anything wrong. 

Ryan added, “Under the law, ‘probable cause’ requires you to look at the whole picture,” And “You can’t leave out the fact that there was basically everyone else’s DNA at the scene, too. And they did.” 

Emanuel was targeted and jailed for a crime he didn’t commit.  He suffered from nine years of imprisonment, much of which was spent in solitary confinement.

“The suit contends that Fair never would have been in that cell — and certainly not for years — if he weren’t a Black man with a criminal record.”

Rebecca Mehra Helps Provide Local Indigenous Girls Access to Sports

Last weekend Rebecca Mehra volunteered at a Bras for Girls event in Seattle where over 700 sports bras and over 1,000 pieces of other athletic gear were given to girls in need.

One of more than ten recipient organizations was Seattle Public Schools’ Native American Education Program, which is managed by Gail Morris.  Rebecca and Gail collaborated to have 100 sports bras donated to Indigenous girls in that program.

Only 20% of US girls engage in at least 60 minutes of physical activity daily, and that number is significantly lower for Indigenous populations.  Bras for Girls is hoping to help change these trends.

 Bras for Girls believes every girl deserves access to sports and lack of access to a sports bra should never be a barrier. They work with organizations across the US to provide girls with sports bras as well as breast development education. Since 2017, the organization has donated over 15,000 sports bras, and plans to donate another 15,000 in 2022 alone.

 Aside from her part-time work with Galanda Broadman, Rebecca is a professional athlete for Oiselle, a women’s athletic brand based in Seattle. She is training to make Team USA for the World Championships this summer, and enjoys finding opportunities to give back to her community through sport.

Gabe Galanda Lectures at Harvard on Tribal Neocolonialism

Gabe Galanda joined a class of Harvard University students last Wednesday to deliver a lecture titled, “Tribal Neocolonialism & the Transmutation of Indigenous Kinship Societies.”

Gabe addressed Professor Eric Henson’s class, “Native Americans in the Twenty-First Century.” His presentation provided a history of Indigenous kinship dictates, federal Indian per-capita law and policy, and tribal disenrollment and enrollment moratoria.

His conclusion: “Indigenous kinship dictates have eroded. Venal exclusion has supplanted Indigenous belonging.”  Download his slides here.

Gabe Galanda is an Indigenous rights attorney and the managing lawyer at Galanda Broadman in Seattle. He belongs to the Round Valley Indian Tribes of California, descending from the Nomlaki and Concow Peoples.

Ryan Dreveskracht Pens “Junk Science & How Government Avoids Truth in Excessive Force Cases”

Last month, Ryan Dreveskracht wrote an article for Trial News regarding what we learned in Lacy v. Snohomish County trial, specifically about the well-known dangers of prone position restraint technique that lead to restraint asphyxia in victims.

He claims that a "small group of academics have permeated vital components of how we train our police in the United States [and how] their opinions—which are not based in reality—have metastasized."  The studies cited by these “experts”—written by the same “experts,” in a feedback loop of bad science—conclude that prone position restraint is safe in “healthy adults males.”  Be that as it may, the studies do not account for real world conditions, or those who are experiencing delirium, exhaustion, or substance use, or have underlying conditions. 

Although this restraint position has led to death “at least 107” times since 2010, according to the article, major police training organizations, including Lexipool’s Police One, continue to perpetuate the dangerous myth that restraint asphyxia has been "debunked."   

Ryan Dreveskracht is a partner at Galanda Broadman. Ryan’s practice focuses defending individuals’ constitutional rights and bringing police misconduct and wrongful death cases on local and national levels. Ryan also represents businesses and tribal governments in public affairs, gaming, taxation, and energy development.

Three Galanda Broadman Indigenous Rights Lawyers Honored by Super Lawyers

Indigenous rights lawyers Gabe Galanda (Round Valley), Anthony Broadman, and Amber Penn-Roco (Chehalis) were each honored by Super Lawyers magazine for 2022.

Gabe and Anthony were named “Super Lawyers” and Amber a “Rising Star,” all in the field of Native American Law.

Galanda Broadman, PLLC, was also recently named a “Best Law Firm” by U.S. News - Best Lawyers in the arena of Native American Law and Gaming Law, for the 10th year in a row. 

With eight lawyers and offices in Seattle and Yakima, Washington and Bend, Oregon, the firm is dedicated to advancing and protecting Indigenous rights.

9th Circuit Shrugs Off Nooksack Judges’ Harassment of Domestic Violence Victim

In an exercise of judicial realism, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals gutted the bad faith exception to tribal court exhaustion on Tuesday in an unpublished opinion.

Elile Adams maintains that Nooksack Tribal Court Chief Judge Ray Dodge and Pro Tem Judge Rajeev Majumdar’s assertion of jurisdiction over for the last five years has been in bad faith. She believes Dodge and Majumdar have harassed her through criminal investigation and prosecution and countless court appearances since 2017, when she first sought domestic violence protection from Dodge.

While they and the court clerks have conspired to deny Elile any opportunity to obtain habeas corpus relief from the Nooksack courts, she has “sought asylum” with the Lummi Nation by taking the extraordinary step of relinquishing Nooksack citizenship and enrolling at Lummi.

In ruling that Elile still must exhaust Nooksack court remedies, the Ninth Circuit was unconcerned that Dodge, Majumdar, and the clerks have sat on her pro se habeas corpus petition for nearly two years, upon the unethical ex parte advice of Nooksack Tribal Attorney and defense lawyer Charles Hurt. 

The Ninth Circuit judges recited but shrugged off that reality along with the following undisputed facts:

Nooksack Tribal Court Chief Judge Dodge and the Nooksack Tribal Court acted in bad faith by: (1) sua sponte initiating a parenting action against her; (2) ignoring a 2015 state court parenting order and its jurisdictional impact; (3) harassing her by requiring her to appear before Dodge at least twenty times in two years; (4) issuing a warrant for her arrest and causing her to be imprisoned because of her failure to appear at a July 11, 2019 hearing despite her public defender’s appearance on her behalf; (5) rejecting her habeas corpus counsel’s appearance before the Tribal Court; and (6) refusing to consider her pro se habeas corpus petition upon the ex parte advice of one of Respondents’ counsel.

The Ninth Circuit’s decision further show the extent to which federal courts are calloused about Indigenous human rights violations in Indian country.

The opinion also reveals the incongruent nature of Indian country domestic violence protection efforts. While at present Congress seeks to strengthen tribal court authority for the protection of Indigenous domestic violence victims like Elile, non-Indian men like Dodge and Majumdar are allowed to violate Indigenous women’s civil rights under the cloak of tribal sovereignty and jurisdiction.

Gabe Galanda Awarded ABA Spirit of Excellence Award

Gabe Galanda, along with George Adams and Nooksack 306 family members, in 2015

The American Bar Association Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession has named Gabe Galanda a 2022 recipient of the Spirit of Excellence Award.

The National Native American Bar Association nominated Gabe for the prestigious award, calling him “a civil rights warrior.” The award symbolizes the determination of racially and ethnically diverse lawyers who have not only navigated their own path to success but paved the way for those who follow them.

When asked to reflect on the importance of the Spirit of Excellence Awards and promoting a more racially and ethnically diverse legal profession, Gabe said:

Without Indigenous representation in the law, there will never be a guarantee to Indigenous citizens or residents of this country that they will be afforded the human rights protection that everyone else in this country enjoys. So unless there are Indigenous advocates, there will not be Indigenous human rights.

Gabe dedicates his award to the Nooksack 306, a group of Indigenous kinfolk in northern Washington state whose human rights have been violated by tribal political actors for the last decade.

Gabe will be recognized, along with Washington Supreme Court Chief Justice Steven C. González, Kay H. Hodge, Carlos E. Moore and Oregon Supreme Court Justice Adrienne C. Nelson, during a virtual ceremony on Feb. 10 at 3 PM Pacific.

“These awardees have blazed trails and have encouraged and supported others to succeed,” Michelle Behnke, the chair of the commission, said when they were announced in September. “Most importantly, these awardees highlight for the world that diversity, equity and inclusion is not mutually exclusive to excellence, grit and determination.”

Gabe Galanda is an Indigenous rights attorney and the managing lawyer at Galanda Broadman in Seattle. He belongs to the Round Valley Indian Tribes of California, descending from the Nomlaki and Concow Peoples.

At Yale, Gabe Galanda Teaches of Neocolonial Tribal Per-capita and Disenrollment Practices

Gabe Galanda joined an engaged class of Yale Law School students on Wednesday to discuss the “Pros and Cons” of Indian Gaming with Stephen Pevar’s “Contemporary Issues in American Indian Law” class.

Gabe’s presentation focused on the “cons” of Indian gaming, providing a history of Indigenous kinship rules, federal Indian per-capita payments, and tribal disenrollment. His slides are here.

Gabe Galanda is an Indigenous rights attorney and the managing lawyer at Galanda Broadman in Seattle. He belongs to the Round Valley Indian Tribes of California, descending from the Nomlaki and Concow Peoples.

Before Howard Law School, Gabe Galanda Urges Indigenous Indigent Right to Counsel

Gabe Galanda joined Audra Wilson, the president and CEO of the Shriver Poverty Law Center, and Sybil Hadley, the General Counsel at the Southern Poverty Law Center, at the Seventh Annual C. Clyde Ferguson Symposium to discuss:

the complexities of economic support for legal representation and how that tends to manifest for all walks of life-- incarcerated individuals, marginalized communities, and those who need further support against the complex systems in our country that perpetuate poverty.

Gabe focused his remarks on disproportionate rates of Indigenous poverty, criminality, and incarceration and, therefore, the need for an Indigenous indigent right to counsel in Tribal Courts such as that guaranteed in non-tribal courts by the federal 6th Amendment. His slides are here.

Gabe Galanda is an Indigenous rights attorney and the managing lawyer at Galanda Broadman in Seattle. He belongs to the Round Valley Indian Tribes of California, descending from the Nomlaki and Concow Peoples.

In Historic Statement, BIA Pledges to Safeguard Indigenous Individuals' Rights

A weekend USA Today news feature regarding the United States’ recent intercession in the Nooksack housing rights calamity (.pdf here), includes the following historic statement from the BIA:

The federal government must protect the rights of individuals under federal law, including the Indian Civil Rights Act... BIA respects tribal sovereignty and supports tribal self-determination. Accordingly, we seek to work closely with our tribal partners to safeguard the rights of both tribes and individuals.

The BIA’s statement marks the second time the Biden administration has professed a commitment to protecting Indigenous individuals’ human rights from violation by Tribal governments, and a break from modern administrations that focused almost exclusively on supporting Tribal self-determination rights.

USA Today also highlights HUD “Secretary Marcia Fudge's October statement encouraging four Oklahoma tribes to accept descendants of Freedmen who once had been enslaved by the tribes.” Secretary Fudge consulted with Interior before making that statement.

Neither statement would have been issued without the guidance and support of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland or Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs Bryan Newland. Indigenous representation does matter.

Both the BIA and HUD statements represent historic commitments by the United States to protect Indigenous individuals from domestic human rights abuse by Tribal governments. Both statements reflect the Trustee’s common-law moral trust responsibility to Tribal citizens and descendants. Both statements recognize that in the context of Indigenous human rights, Tribal sovereignty and self-determination are not absolute.

As explained by USA Today:

Galanda, a Seattle lawyer and member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes of California, said earlier Supreme Court decisions call for federal intervention under a "moral trust responsibility."

"The tension lies between tribal self-determination and Indigenous human rights protection in the form of federal diplomatic intercession," he said. "I think there have to be scenarios in which the Indigenous human rights violation is so atrocious and so threatening to an Indigenous community's existence that the (U.S. government) must exercise its moral trust responsibility."

I wholeheartedly applaud the Biden administration, particularly Secretary Haaland and ASIA Newland, for boldly professing a commitment to safeguard Indigenous individuals’ human rights.

Gabe Galanda is an Indigenous rights attorney and the managing lawyer at Galanda Broadman in Seattle. He belongs to the Round Valley Indian Tribes of California, descending from the Nomlaki and Concow Peoples.