Copyright © 1999 NLThomas
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Tahlequah, OK - Darrell L. Moore, special prosecutor for the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma (CNO), has requested that the CNO's Judicial Appeals Tribunal (JAT) order; Joe Byrd, Principal Chief; James "Garland" Eagle, Deputy Chief; Gary Stopp, Byrd's chief of staff; Tina Jordan and Dewayne Littlejohn, former CNO District Judges, to appear in court to show why they should not be held in contempt of court.

On February 17, 1998 the CNO District Judges were notified by the JAT that they were suspended. It was ordered that District Court hearings cease and paychecks, to the suspended judges, be stopped. Byrd, however, allowed the judges to continue to hold "illegal court within the executive branch" and continue to be paid in contempt of the JAT order and also without approval by tribal council. Under the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma's Constitution the JAT is responsible for the lower district court.

Byrd has stated in the past that he would only obey court orders he personally considered legal orders and also stated he would only obey orders that did not violate his constitutional rights.

According to Moore, records show that checks to the suspended judges were signed and sent to the tribe's accounting department by Stopp and other checks were signed by Byrd and Eagle in violation of the JAT court order. The JAT's order, "specifically warned that if the order was disobeyed, the punishment... was contempt." Contempt of court carries up to six months in jail and a $500 fine according Cherokee law.

The request stems from Byrd's attempt to oust members of the JAT, the CNO's supreme court, after the JAT issued a legal search warrant of the Tribal Complex. The warrant was issued due to supporting evidence showing the possibility of the misuse of tribal and federal funds.

The legal search of the complex was carried out by members of the Cherokee Nation Marshal Service. After the warrant was served, Byrd fired the entire CNO Marshal Service, along with the tribal prosecutor whom had requested the search warrant.

Byrd then hired his own private police force, ordering an early morning raid to take over and shut down the historic Cherokee Nation Courthouse in Tahlequah. Attempts by the Cherokee Marshal service to retake the courthouse failed. The CNO Courthouse was boarded up and all judical proceedings were brought to a halt. At this time court papers were removed from the courthouse, taken to the Tribal Complex were Byrd allowed the two district court judges to set up court.

The courthouse was eventually reopened but the court papers were not returned, nor was the District Court returned to CNO the Tribal Courthouse, as ordered by the JAT. Chief Justice Viles Jr. recently visited the Tribal Complex, retrieved the court files and returned them to the CNO Courthouse.

Since then several audits of the CNO's books have been attempted. Deloitte and Touche stated the CNO's books were unauditable citing missing records as just one of the reasons.

An audit by the U.S. Department of Interior showed evidence of the misuse of federal funds. This audit has lead to the tribe being put on a monthly allowance. Federal funds are normally paid out in a lump sum. The tribe is to remain on allowance until a full accounting of spending for a missing year can provided. The Byrd administration has also been ordered to pay back $88,000 in misused government funds.