INDIAN ISLAND, Maine — About a dozen people lined the back of the courtroom Wednesday morning. While they waited for the judge to convene the arraignment session, most spoke with Stephen Brimley, director of the Penobscot Nation Judicial System.
“I wouldn’t call the judge ‘Judy’ if I were you,” he joked with one defendant, referring to the popular syndicated courtroom reality television show that features Judith Sheindlin.
While Judge Judy’s job is to entertain and dispense justice, Eric Mehnert, the chief judge of the tribal court, sees his job differently.
“My direction from the Tribal Council is to be a problem-solving court,” he said Wednesday during a recess. “The state court system, for the most part, deals with the symptoms that bring people to court. Here, we try to get at and deal with the root cause of the problem or problems that bring people to court.”
In most ways, the Penobscot tribal courtroom looks a lot like courtrooms in state-run courthouses in rural Maine. There’s a raised bench where the judge presides and tables for opposing counsel.
To the judge’s left is a witness box and jutting out from the wall is an area sectioned off for a jury. There’s a court clerk and a recording system to create a record of all proceedings, but there are no court officers.
There also are some obvious differences. The jury box holds six, not 12, people and there is no “bar” separating the public from the lawyers and judge. The walls are filled with art and artifacts created by tribal members rather than paintings of former jurists.
The court was created in 1979 to emulate the District Court system, according to Maine Supreme Judicial Court Justice Andrew Mead, who was the first judge in the tribal court. Bangor-area attorneys were hired to act as judge, prosecutor and public defender, Mead said in a telephone interview earlier this week.
He called it a “people’s court” long before there was a television show by that name.
“On Dec. 13, 1979, armed only with good intentions and a large gavel, I conducted the first session of the Penobscot Tribal Court,” Mead wrote in the November 1989 issue of the Maine Bar Journal in an article about his 10 years as a judge on Indian Island.
The court has exclusive jurisdiction over Class D and E crimes, which are classified as misdemeanors, juvenile offenses, civil actions between members, federal Indian child welfare matters and domestic relations matters between tribal members.
State laws have been adopted by the tribe, according to Brewer attorney Matthew Erickson, who works 15-20 hours a week as the tribal prosecutor. The biggest difference between state statutes and tribal regulations is in the hunting and fishing laws, he said.
The court has jurisdiction only over tribal members. In criminal matters, the court handles cases in which the defendant is a Penobscot and the alleged crime occurred on tribal land. So, if two people under the age of 21, one a tribal member and one not, were caught on Indian Island with alcohol, the Penobscot’s case would be heard in tribal court and the nontribal member’s case would be on the Unified Criminal Docket at Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor.
Major crimes such as a murder on tribal land would be handled in U.S. District Court in Bangor. Class A, B and C crimes, which are classified as felonies, are transferred to the Unified Criminal Docket at the Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor.
Funding for the court and its staff, including the judge, public defender, prosecutor, court clerk and director, comes from two sources, according to Brimley. About two-thirds of the court is funded through the U.S. Justice Department and the other one-third is funded by grants. The drug court program is funded with grant money, he said.
Although the tribal court was set up to mirror the state courts, it also was designed to reflect the Penobscots’ culture and governance style, Mead wrote.
“The traditional way of adjudicating disputes was for an elder to try to mediate,” Mead said. “We tried to simulate that in the courtroom and let anyone say whatever they wanted to say.”
Tribal court also was and still is more informal than District Court. In his article for the Bar Journal, Mead wrote that crying babies and roaming dogs were “de rigueur” in the court’s early days.
“Although fewer dogs are attending court these days, it was not uncommon in the past for a defendant’s dog to stroll behind the bench and put its head on my lap during the course of a trial,” he wrote. “Not wishing to seem aloof, I would generally scratch the dog behind the ears and hope it shared my sense of impartiality in the outcome of the case. I am pleased to report that the hand of justice was not once bitten.”
There were no dogs in court Wednesday. The morning docket included three defendants in the Penobscot Nation Drug Court and defendants charged with civil and criminal violations, including operating without a license, driving with an expired inspection sticker and violation of a condition of release.
Family and civil matters were handled in the afternoon.
The court handles less than 200 cases a year, about half of them criminal or civil violations and the other half family or civil cases, according to Brimley.
“One of the real benefits of the tribal court is that the docket load is not as heavy as it is in District Court, so you have time for people to hear one another,” said Mehnert, who spends eight to 10 days a month either presiding or working on tribal court cases. “We are able to take more time with people so they don’t feel there was a rush to judgment.”
Mehnert said that last year he issued a written decision in a running-stop-sign case, something a District Court judge would not have time to do.
“On the civil side, people often represent themselves,” he said. “When I instruct the parties on [court] procedure, I tell them that they must listen to the other side. Oftentimes at the end of the hearing, we will take a break and I’ll give them five minutes to come up with a resolution. It’s surprising in how many cases people are able to come to some consensus.”
More than 20 years ago, Mead outlined the goal for which he and court personnel strived.
“Justice can be measured by only one standard: the perception of fairness by the litigants,” he wrote for the Bar Journal. “The physical grandeur of a court room or the eloquent oratory of the magistrate are of little value if a party doubts the fairness of the proceeding. Accordingly, at the tribal court, rather than striving for lofty, abstract legal objectives, we have been content to try for fairness.”
Mehnert echoed that sentiment Wednesday.
“Whether people believe they have due process is as important as the due process itself,” he said.
Wonder just how much this justice court costs the taxpayers?, Also who pays if a member gets
a prison sentence, in that the Tribe has no tax base, therefore no money.
Right. We already took a majority of their land, now let’s make them pay to house their criminals.
That might be okay, if we had given the The Penobscot Nation The Hollywood Casino of Maine too, but as it is you just sound like a disgruntled tenant, not a stake holder.
Shame on you.
Why not just move, if you don’t like it ?
Why don’t you go back to where your people came from and be happy, for a change ?
Of course if you had your way, then you’d whine their jail, which just holds tribal members ( real people they know and understand) is better, more humane, than that the State of Maine’s.
I am tired of bigotry, or cynical irony about bigotry, as the case might be, getting a pass.
I think we should call the bigotry out wherever we find it by being positive,
and think of doing that as political campaigning.
Then we progressives would have the moral high ground, instead of diversionary religions, in our land where your freedom of religion ALSO means we should be free from both the religion and bigotry of the common old bigots.
Have a good day, Ms. Carlton. : )
What a nice article, and I like the notion that the Penobscot Nation is making the best values that I learned growing up on banks of the Penobscot River more real.
Good on ya.
Back then I loved that dirty water.
But its condition was a sin and a shame, too.
It’s better now, too, people gather there in the summer to celebrate our culture, now.
So we are doing plenty of good.
Now, I’m proud of our River, our Valley, and my good neighbors.
Even if it is just a good start, we need to remember all good we have done already .
With patience and good will we can make the New Broader Penobscot Nation a place of respect and honor, real Yankee honor, or otherwise, no matter, because honor is honor,
like the Penobscot Tibal Court is already doing, from Mount Katahdin to the far Islands
of Penobscot and Frenchman’s Bay.
I think regional energy independence is the key.
It would be hard, I know, but I remember when they said there is no point in trying to clean up the River because that could never be done, too.
The Indian Land claims were settled in the early 80’s if I am not mistaken.
If that’s what is required for you to feel better about Anglo-American usurpation, by all means. I bet you also believe slavery wasn’t that bad because we let them all go.
Many nations were defeated through out time, but at least we Americans allowed some to live, rather then what today’s tribes did to the ‘Red Paint’ Indians who were here before them, who were needlessly killed. All we asked is that you assimilate into our culture. That”s really not too much to ask. All other’s have been able to melt into this society. But for some reason the Tribes have not been able to. Also, even though you were defeated in battle, we still came back and paid you for the land in question, and you excepted this payment, so my question is why do we have to continue supporting you financially? At some point, the Tribes need to become self supporting.
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I was just thinking that is the government the TEA Partiers want, but of course, they are often bigots too, and don’t feel like others are members of their tribe… real Americans.
I have the dual distinction of being a member of First Nations who is also a Tea Party crasher so I am well aware of bigotry and misrepresentations. Like Native people who have been abused for hundreds of years by the “well meaning” ,we know what’s best for you US Govt., Tea Party folks are fed up with more interference in our lives, diminishing freedoms , and being labled just because we have different approaches to the size of government. While I am suspicious of most people of European blood , I am also alarmed about being called a bigot. As any political group in our society , there are always those who have fringe members who who do not speak for the majority. Liberals who call us bigots would go ballistic should we label them Communists! Correction, maybe they would take that as a badge of honor! Now that you have taken our lands, committed widespread genocide , placed us on the lowest rungs of the food chain ladder , please let us run our own lives. We were not the savages!
But read what I actually wrote.
I was careful to NOT to call anyone who is not, a bigot.
If you think otherwise, name who you think I called a bigot, but is not one, please.
The truth is a positive defense.
I’ve always figured that if people go ballistic
there must a personal reason behind it.
Especially, given the names the Tea Drinkers* call others …
* (I think of it as the new Kool-Aid, btw)
…. like Sen. Snowe, a life long traditional Aroostook County Republican
and the people’s choice, being a RINO , for just one light, polite but undeniable example of biased foolish name calling.
But I’m very tempted to wonder if you could properly be said to like a coyote
given how you stepped right into the spring trap, that I set and baited.
But the more important point is who are the really name callers ?
Figure that out for yourself… everyone..
And Look at you, you are free to walk your own path.
But remember, I’m’ not 0nly free to suggest you seem a bit lost,
but it might even be my duty to do so, once in while.
So are you agreeing with my real point about bigotry:
” I am tired of bigotry, or cynical irony about bigotry, as the case might be, getting a pass.
I think we should call the bigotry out wherever we find it by being positive, and think of doing that as political campaigning.”?
…. or not, and or just spinning the words for political reasons ?
If the former, work on being more positive, my friend.
“I” didn’t take anyone’s land or commit genocide. I’m still waiting for the English to pay me back for killing most of my highland family 700 years ago.
Talk to your Fearless leaders!!!! Lapage? Really should of Bought it… when I saw it… at my funk stores!
Don’t worry, it doesn’t cost as much as state court. Most programs are under by BIA, or grants. Criminals are housed at Penobscot Count jail. Non Indian crimes cost the tax payer A LOT more than Native crimes. Hope you can sleep better tonight now.
outsiders of our tribe have to understand that our laws and government is more about our people and our sovereignty. Some of our laws differ from State laws and even federal laws. I for one have fought for my rights as an Native to my lands, and the State of “MAINE” can not understand our ways….our rights…and our structure! Everyone needs to understand that our tribal government is more knowledgeable then state. We are here for many years and the years that we fought is still in an uproar!!!! let us live, let us breath and let us show the state of Maine how our lands should be run.
welfare court !
Native American people are, in fact, different in many ways. Without going into a shameful history of what the “Christian Settlers” did to them, they deserve any and all opportunities to get some kind of justice. Good for the good people who realize the need for this court and long may it stand as a way of appreciating the people who founded America.
It’s interesting that whenever there’s an article about the Penobscot Nation, even a great article like this one, there’s always people who have to wonder how much are the taxpayers being affected, and of course all the other same ole songs about welfare, and this and that… Maybe it’s each person’s responsibility to educate themselves about FACTS rather than the perpetuation of stereotypes. It’s become obvious that some people don’t want to know facts, and don’t want to acknowledge the tribes’ progress. They prefer to spout off the same ole misinformation. How does that make YOU look?
Exactly.
judge takum beads and wampum