Arnold Francis Kills Crow v. United States

MATTHES, Chief Judge.

The Major Crimes Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1153,1 creates federal jurisdiction over enumerated offenses when committed by Indians on Indian reservations. Appellant, an Indian, was charged under the act with having assaulted his wife, on a South Dakota reservation, with intent to do great bodily injury by stabbing her with a knife. A jury found him guilty, and he has appealed from the judgment of conviction.

Several errors are alleged on appeal, the most significant being the district court’s refusal to instruct the jury on the lesser offense of simple assault. Evidence adduced at…