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Child's Arrest Angers Minn. Tribe
May 9, 2007
By Patrick Condon
Associated Press
 VINELAND,
Minn. - The 11-year-old boy was led from his school in handcuffs,
held overnight in a juvenile detention center, and hauled into court
in shackles and an orange prison jumpsuit.
His crime? Missing a court date to
testify as the victim of an assault.
The treatment of the boy, a member
of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, has reignited a decades-old feud
between the tribe and officials from the surrounding county in
central Minnesota.
Kristie Lee Davis-Deyhle, a
member of the Mille Lacs Band
of Ojibwe, is shown with her husband ...
"There's other people out there
they could have picked to make an example of," said Kristie Lee
Davis-Deyhle, the boy's mother, in her first interview about the
case. "Not an 11-year-old."
Tribal leaders are calling for the
resignation of the Mille Lacs County attorney, Jan Kolb, who says
she was just carrying out policy in the face of a long history of
band members ignoring subpoenas.
"I don't know that it should have
been done differently," said Kolb, who was first elected in 1993.
The uproar, she said, "is a way to make Mille Lacs County look like
it's racist."
The Mille Lacs Band, now the
largest employer in the county, and some of its neighbors have long
had a tense relationship in their shared home around Lake Mille Lacs,
Minnesota's second-biggest lake and a choice spot for walleye
fishing and other outdoor recreation.
The official policy of the county
is that the Mille Lacs Band's reservation no longer exists because
of legal decisions dating to the early 20th century. Federal courts
have rejected a lawsuit to that effect, but Kolb and the Mille Lacs
County Commission maintain their position.
Kolb caused a flap last year by
detailing the policy in a memo to county department heads. Soon
after, members of the local American Indians Veterans Post 52 and
the Ladies Auxiliary were booed by some spectators while riding a
float in the Fourth of July parade in the Mille Lacs County town of
Isle.
Against that backdrop came the
arrest of the 11-year-old band member.
The boy was allegedly the victim of
an assault by a 13-year-old classmate. But, Kolb said, the county
was having trouble prosecuting the 13-year-old because the younger
boy and his mother ignored subpoenas and missed several court dates.
Davis-Deyhle said the family never got the subpoenas, and a tribal
lawyer said the county is not diligent in making sure subpoenas are
served.
When the boy missed a court hearing
in early April, Kolb's office requested the judge issue a warrant
for his arrest. A tribal officer was dispatched to his school, where
he was handcuffed and transported to the detention center.
Davis-Deyhle talked to her son on the phone that afternoon.
"He told me he didn't understand
what was going on. I could hear the tears, the fear in his voice,"
Davis-Deyhle said.
The boy spent the night at the
juvenile detention center, about 60 miles away in St. Cloud. At the
court hearing the next morning, in which the boy was brought into
court in an orange jumpsuit, handcuffs and shackles, prosecutors
announced that they wouldn't press charges and that he was free to
go.
Kolb is unapologetic about the
boy's treatment. She said the entire point of the prosecution was to
make him safer against the 13-year-old aggressor.
"This family knew his appearance
was needed in court," Kolb said. "Someone needed to step in and say,
we'll get him there next time. Some showing of accountability or
acknowledgment of the criminal justice system."
Last week, Benjamin asked the state
attorney general to intervene and force Kolb to change her
practices; lawyers from that office went to Mille Lacs County and
are now determining if they have jurisdiction.
The American Civil Liberties Union
is also seeking a government investigation, and Brunkow said the
family is likely to file a federal civil rights lawsuit.
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