State V. Frank

¶1 Defendant Travis Frank entered a conditional plea of guilty to six counts of vehicular homicide, contrary to NMSA 1978, § 66-8-101(A) (1991), reserving for appeal the issue of the State's jurisdiction to prosecute the case. Defendant, a registered member of the Navajo nation, had unsuccessfully challenged the State's jurisdiction to prosecute him in a motion to dismiss. In his first appeal, State v. Frank, 1997-NMCA-093, ¶ 1,123 N.M. 734, 945 P.2d 464 (hereinafter Frank I), Defendant challenged the findings of fact and conclusions of law reached by the district court in denying Defendant's motion to dismiss. Defendant argued that "the accident occurred within the boundaries of a dependent Indian community, . . . thus depriving the state of jurisdiction to prosecute Defendant of the criminal charges against him." Id. The Court of Appeals in Frank I reversed and remanded the case for the district court to make additional findings, applying the analysis from Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Co. v. Watchman, 52 F.3d 1531 (10th Cir. 1995). Frank, 1997-NMCA-093, ¶ 2.