United States v. Larry Miller

WILLIAM E. DOYLE, Circuit Judge.

The question in this case is whether a criminal prosecution can be employed for the purpose of settling what in essence is a property dispute.

Defendant Larry Miller was charged with criminal trespass for crossing Indian land on the Wind River Indian Reservation. The prosecution was pursued under an assimilated Wyoming statute § 6-10-102 (1977), and the assimilation was through 18 U.S.C. § 13. It was made applicable to the Wind River Indian Reservation by 18 U.S.C. § 7. Section 6-10-102 provides as follows:

Whoever enters into or upon the land or premises of…