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TAHLEQUAH - Approval has been given for a special prosecutor to file indirect contempt-of-court charges against Chief Joe Byrd and four others by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma (CNO) Judicial Appeals Tribunal (JAT). The others included in the contempt charges are Deputy Chief James "Garland" Eagle, Gary Stopp, former Chief of Staff; DeWayne Littlejohn, tribal District Judge, and Tina Jordan, former district judge.

The charges will include illegally establishing a district court in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma headquarters and misuse of tribal funds, used to pay the salary's of suspened judges. The district court was relocated to the CNO headquarters after Byrd took over and shut down the CNO Courthouse.

Tribal funds were misused in salary payments to the district judges, said Chief Justice Philip Viles Jr., because the district court had no standing when it was not located at the CNO Courthouse in downtown Tahlequah.

The special prosecutor has until June 4, 1999 to file charges. Darrell Dowty, a Byrd appointed justice, will be the presiding justice.