Shots On Kickapoo Land

A member of the Kickapoo Tribe shot another Kickapoo man on the tribe's reservation in Kansas. He was prosecuted in a Kansas state court, convicted of aggravated battery under state law, and sentenced to three to ten years. One federal statute, the Major Crimes Act, gives federal courts jurisdiction over listed serious crimes by Indians in Indian country, including this kind of assault. Another federal statute, the Kansas Act, gave Kansas jurisdiction over offenses by or against Indians on Kansas reservations. On habeas corpus, the defence argued that federal jurisdiction over major crimes was exclusive, so the state conviction was void. The state argued the Kansas Act allowed it to prosecute.