Application of Larry Buffalo Chief, for a Writ of Habeas Corpus v. State of South Dakota and Don R. Erickson, Warden

GIBSON, Circuit Judge.

The State of South Dakota appeals from an order of the United States District Court for South Dakota, the Honorable Fred J. Nichol, granting Larry Buffalo Chief’s petition for writ of ha beas corpus. 1 Judge Niehol ordered Buffalo Chief released from the State Penitentiary at Sioux Falls, South Dakota within 90 days of the court’s order or within 90 days of an affirmance of the order on appeal, unless a new trial is awarded to the petitioner in the South Dakota Circuit Court within the allotted time.

This case presents serious questions of state-federal relationships, of…