GableGotwals Secures Win for Cherokee Nation

Shareholders Trent Shores and Adam C. Doverspike successfully represented the Cherokee Nation in a civil lawsuit brought against it by Kimberlie Gilliland. From 2016 through 2019, the Cherokee Nation Attorney General charged Gilliland, a former executive director of the Cherokee Nation Foundation, with 15 total counts of embezzlement. While facing tribal criminal charges, Gilliland fled to Poland and filed a habeas petition in 2022 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, seeking to have a warrant for her arrest voided and tribal embezzlement charges dismissed. GableGotwals sought to dismiss Gilliland’s petition and, in doing so, defended tribal sovereignty and protected the integrity of the Cherokee Nation’s justice system.

On April 24, 2023, Chief U.S. District Judge John F. Heil III granted the Cherokee Nation’s request to dismiss the habeas petition, recognizing that federal courts cannot interfere with tribal court proceedings and a fugitive cannot bypass tribal courts by going to federal court.

Attorneys in GableGotwals’ Native American Law Practice are proud to advocate for the rule of law and protect the inherent rights of federally recognized tribes to hold accountable tribal citizens who violate tribal laws. They provide expertise in legal disputes, including commercial law, business and transactional ventures, gaming issues, governmental relations, environmental areas, administrative practice, environmental concerns, land and water rights, and litigation matters. The Firm has successfully represented Native American tribes, their leaders, vendors, and commercial organizations in federal, state, and tribal courts as well as before administrative agencies, and have successfully argued on behalf of Indian rights before the United States Supreme Court. In addition, GableGotwals’ Native American practice has been recognized Chambers & Partners, with clients stating: “GableGotwals are very professional and care about their client and their results.”

Click here to read the recent Tulsa World article on this case.