Oklahoma man at the center of a tribal sovereignty ruling reaches plea agreement with prosecutors
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma man at the center of a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling on tribal sovereignty has reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors less than a week before he was scheduled to go to trial, court records show.
Jimcy McGirt, 75, pleaded guilty Tuesday before a federal magistrate in U.S. District Court in Muskogee to one count of aggravated sexual abuse in Indian country in exchange for a 30-year prison sentence with credit for time served.
McGirt has served more than 26 years in prison since his first conviction in state court.
McGirt said in the signed document that he entered the plea “because I am guilty and do not believe I am innocent, I want to plead guilty.”
U.S. Attorney Christopher Wilson said in a statement that a federal judge must still approve the plea deal after a court appearance.
“McGirt will remain in the custody of the United States Marshal until the sentencing hearing, at which time the court will determine whether to accept the plea agreement,” Wilson's statement said.
No date has been scheduled for the sentencing hearing.
Attorney Richard O'Carroll said Wednesday that prosecutors came to them with the proposal.
“They just came up with an offer and it made sense to avoid the risk” of a trial in which McGirt could be sentenced to life in prison, O'Carroll said.
Wilson did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.
According to the plea agreement, the deal was offered in part because McGirt accepted responsibility for the crime, the age of the witnesses and the impact testifying could have on them.
O'Carroll said he believes McGirt has earned enough so-called good time credit for the time he has spent in state prison that he would be released once the judge accepts the plea, if the judge does.
Although the plea was entered before a magistrate, O'Carroll said the federal judge overseeing the case is aware of the plea and has not raised any objections.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jarrod Leaman said the remaining time on McGirt's sentence will be determined by the Federal Bureau of Prisons as part of the presentence report.
McGirt was first convicted in state court in 1997 and sentenced to life in prison without parole and two 500-year prison terms for rape, indecent assault and sodomy of a four-year-old girl in 1996.
The conviction and sentence were overturned in 2020 by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that much of eastern Oklahoma, including much of its second-largest city, Tulsa, remains a Native American reservation because it was never approved by Congress relieved. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has since expanded that ruling to include other tribal reservations in that part of the state.
McGirt was later convicted in federal court of sexual abuse of a child and sentenced to life in prison. But an appeals court overturned that conviction this year, ruling that jury instructions regarding inconsistent statements from key witnesses against McGirt were incorrect.