Law & Principles

Tulsa mayor vows to stop prosecuting crimes committed by Indians

June 25, 2025

Ray Carter

Under an agreement publicly released this week, Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols, a Democrat, has promised that Tulsa police and municipal courts will no longer pursue charges against any alleged criminal who is a member of any of the more than 500 American Indian tribes in the United States, and also promised to dismiss all pending prosecutions against Indian defendants in Tulsa’s municipal court system.

Law enforcement officials warn that the agreement may embolden criminals due to the much-reduced threat of prosecution for defendants who have even a trace of Indian heritage.

“Any settlement agreement that unnecessarily surrenders the State’s ability to prosecute human traffickers and drug dealers is a grave threat to public safety for all Oklahomans,” Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics director Donnie Anderson said in a statement issued prior to the release of the Tulsa-Muscogee Nation agreement. “Crime does not distinguish Oklahomans based on tribal membership, and neither should our law enforcement and prosecution efforts.”

Nichols campaigned for mayor vowing to reduce the city’s authority, promising to “co-govern” with local Indian tribes, and declared the new agreement was part of that effort.

“As mayor, I pledged to make Tulsa the safest big city in the country and to co-govern with our tribal partners,” Nichols said in a press release. “Today, with this agreement, we are establishing systems to ensure that we move forward on both of those pledges with a solid framework.”

In the same release, Muscogee Nation Principal Chief David Hill gave Nichols a rhetorical pat on the head.

“I applaud and appreciate the vision of Mayor Nichols in advocating a policy for reaching solutions with Tribes—rather than litigating—on these issues of mutual importance for citizens and visitors in Tulsa, both Indian and non-Indian alike,” Hill said.

On Nov. 15, 2023, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation sued the City of Tulsa, seeking to prohibit the city from exercising criminal jurisdiction over Indians within the historic boundaries of the tribe’s pre-statehood reservation.

Because the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma held that the pre-statehood reservations of several Oklahoma tribes were never formally disestablished, criminal jurisdiction within affected areas has been in flux ever since, including most of Tulsa, which lies within the boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s pre-statehood reservation lines.

Under the new agreement, Nichols (acting on behalf of the City of Tulsa) promised that the city “will not exercise Criminal Jurisdiction over Indian Defendants” on property lying within the boundaries of the Muscogee’s pre-statehood reservation, unless the tribe authorizes Tulsa police to take action as part of a cross-deputization agreement.

Under the agreement, Nichols promised to “dismiss with prejudice all pending prosecutions in the City’s court system (‘Municipal Court’) against all known Indian defendants” and vowed the city “will not initiate prosecutions in Municipal Court or the Courts of the State of Oklahoma against known Indian defendants.”

Instead, the city will refer crimes involving Indian culprits to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, which will have the authority to pursue (or not pursue) those crimes. Major crimes, such as murder, may also be passed on to federal officials.

Are Tribal Police Up to the Task?

There are serious questions about whether the Muscogee (Creek) Nation has the ability, or will, to pursue law-enforcement actions in many instances.

The tribe’s website lists only 108 total employees working for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Lighthorse Tribal Police Department today, whose jurisdiction covers an 11-county area within the tribe’s historic reservation boundaries.

That’s only a fraction of the police force maintained by Tulsa alone, let alone the combined police forces of all municipalities within all counties within the Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s historic reservation.

In recent years, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s tribal police have been criticized for failure to carry out basic law-enforcement duties.

In February 2022, Hughes County Sheriff Marcia Maxwell reported her office was ending its cross-deputization agreement with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Lighthorse Police. In a public letter, Hughes said the Muscogee (Creek) Nation had required her office to perform nearly all law-enforcement duties (and carry nearly all associated costs) of any joint activity, and that any individual arrested and turned over to the Muscogee (Creek) court system was “rarely prosecuted and very rarely spends any time in jail.”

A brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in 2021 by the Oklahoma District Attorneys Association, the Oklahoma Sheriffs’ Association, the Oklahoma Narcotic Enforcers, and the 27 elected Oklahoma District Attorneys noted that to avoid the cost of jail contracts, “many tribes release tribal suspects pending further criminal proceedings.”

Nichols pursued the agreement with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation even though the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has held that cities and the state maintain jurisdiction over nonmember Indians on land within the historic boundaries of a tribe’s reservation. In City of Tulsa v. O’Brien in 2024, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals held that Tulsa police could issue a traffic ticket to an Osage citizen who was speeding on land that was part of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s pre-statehood reservation.

However, under the agreement signed by Nichols, any individual who is a member of any tribe within the United States—and there are more than 500 tribes—would be exempt from prosecution by Tulsa authorities. The agreement is not limited to members of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation living in Tulsa.

Nichols’ agreement defines “Indian” as any individual who has “some Indian blood” and “is recognized as an Indian by a tribe or by the federal government.”

That means many individuals with few or no real ties to any Indian tribe may be protected from prosecution by Tulsa authorities. Many individuals are tribal members despite having just 1/512 Indian blood, 1/1,024, or less.

The Wall Street Journal has noted the case of Robert Wadkins, who was convicted of rape and kidnapping. Wadkins spent nine years as a member of a white-supremacist prison gang, the Universal Aryan Brotherhood, but sought for his conviction to be overturned because he was 3/16 Choctaw.

Wadkins sought tribal membership after his conviction. In a court brief, Oklahoma’s district attorneys and sheriffs noted that Wadkins was “covered in swastika tattoos.”

‘All Oklahomans Are Put at Risk’

Nichols’ agreement with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation comes even as Tulsa officials are increasingly concerned about rising crime. City officials are considering a revision to the curfew ordinance following gun violence in downtown Tulsa.

Nichols’ agreement drew strong criticism from Gov. Kevin Stitt and law-enforcement officials even before it was officially released.

“Tulsa is essentially making itself a sanctuary city for tribal members engaged in criminal activity,” said Stitt, who is Cherokee. “As elected leaders, it is our job to represent our constituents regardless of race, heritage, or political affiliation. This proposed move by Mayor Nichols sets a concerning precedent and will make it impossible for elected officials and Oklahoma law enforcement to protect their communities. I will take every action to reverse course and ensure the rule of law is the same for everyone.”

“The idea that the City of Tulsa would abdicate its public safety charter and not allow the State to prosecute dangerous criminals solely based on their identity as an Indian is ludicrous,” said Tulsa District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler. “The State’s efforts to protect all citizens of Tulsa in no way infringes upon a tribe’s ability to do the same—whether they choose to do so or not. Kneecapping the Tulsa Police Department—one of the best in the country—from performing its public safety function puts all Tulsans in danger.”

“When a jurisdiction refuses to enforce our laws, all Oklahomans are put at risk,” said Public Safety Commissioner Tim Tipton. “Oklahoma Highway Patrol will continue to investigate and arrest anyone who engages in criminal activity regardless of race, heritage, or political affiliation and I encourage all jurisdictions to do the same.”

“Accountability must apply equally to all individuals, regardless of tribal affiliation or status,” said Tulsa County Sheriff Vic Regalado. “Justice is only fair when it is blind to background, and consistent in its application. The Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office, in accordance with the ruling from the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, will continue sending the appropriate cases to the Tulsa County District Attorney for consideration of charges.”

“The Tulsa FOP Lodge 93 supports the victims of crimes in the City of Tulsa,” said Patrick Stephens, chairman of the Tulsa Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 93. “Under the system proposed by this agreement, you can have a situation where two suspects committing the same crime are treated differently because of their affiliation with a tribe. One suspect could end up in prison while the other suspect could face less severe consequences. This creates two tiers of justice. As law enforcement leaders, we cannot stand for this.”

Nichols was elected mayor of Tulsa through a “jungle primary” process similar to the election model used in California races. In the Tulsa mayor’s race, that process limited voters’ general-election choices to two Democrats, including Nichols.

A group calling itself Oklahoma United has launched an initiative petition effort that, if ultimately approved by voters, would mandate the use of the California-style “jungle primary” election system for Oklahoma’s legislative and statewide races.

Officials with the group have touted the election of officials such as Nichols as an example of the proposal’s benefits.