Win for Cherokee Nation, Tossing Fugitive’s Lawsuit

GableGotwals successfully represented the Cherokee Nation in a civil lawsuit brought against it by Kimberlie Gilliland, an international fugitive from justice. 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.