Fortino Alvarez v. Randy Tracy

This appeal gives us no occasion to consider a rat’s nest of problems with the Community’s justice system that may well provide future criminal defendants with avenues for habeas relief. In 1999, we published an opinion expressing “doubt that a functioning appellate court exists” in the Gila River Indian Community. Johnson v. Gila River Indian Cmty., 174 F.3d 1032, 1036 (9th Cir. 1999). Too few reforms have been implemented in the intervening years. When the Community destroys its inventory of Defendant’s Rights forms, it may also wish to reflect on whether it is proud to have: permitted…