OST Court announces changes

Oyate Ki Woope Ogna Tipi, the new Oglala Sioux Tribe Justice building in Pine Ridge, SD. (Photo courtesy Beasley Management)

The Oglala Sioux Tribal Court has announced that it has opened up a branch of its Youth & Family Court at the Kyle Court House. Formerly, all Youth & Family cases were heard in Pine Ridge.
“We are taking all Youth & Family filings except for adoptions, which still must remain in Pine Ridge Court,” said Court Administrator Bette Goings. “Chief Judge Charles Abourezk has been working on making the Court more accessible to the people in the Kyle Court division, which includes Wanblee, Hisle, Allen, Kyle, Sharp’s Corner, and Rockyford, as well as outlying families living on their land in those areas.
The Oglala Sioux Tribal Courts are divided into two divisions for purposes of both criminal and civil venue. The Pine Ridge District contains Manderson, Porcupine, Wakpamni and Batesland, Oglala, Martin and Pine Ridge.
“We have been working on a number of things to make the Court friendlier and more accessible,” Goings said. “We have worked extensively on improving customer relations, clerk training to be more helpful to the public (without giving legal advice, which clerks cannot do), we have updated and made our forms more simple, and we are now working on brochures we can hand out to guide tribal members in specific areas of the law.”
“Chief Judge Abourezk really believes that the justice system belongs to the people, and he has strengthened this by the reinstitution of jury trials,” said Goings. “This gets tribal members involved in their judicial system, as part of it, rather than objects of it. Our tribal members really like being involved in that process, and they work very hard to come up with fair verdicts. It has been wonderful to see that process at work.”
“Our next goal is to establish a computer and printer and research facilities at each of our court houses,” Goings said. “The Chief Judge believes that lay advocates are an important part of our judicial system. They do a lot to help the Court function better and give good representation to individual tribal members.”
“The Chief Judge wants to help them do their important work. He has also provided training to lay advocates in the past on evidence and trial techniques, and will continue to do that in the future, so they can better represent their clients,” Goings said.

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