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 Article by Ruth Steinberger on 24 August 2002 Rosebud Spiritual Walk and the Brian Collins Controversy Sept 2002
NOTE: For the DLN Human Rights Advocacy perspective, please read the above article by Ruth Steinberger on the Protest, and the letters by Alfred Bone Shirt on the Judge Collins controversy. The concerns of the DLN have been sidestepped by Collins and his supporters below. The article shows the collaboration with the state and Janklow and Collins in their collusion to undermine the Rosebud Sioux Tribe's jurisdiction. There's a big conflict of interest with Collins presiding over the lawsuit against the state.
RST civil court judge accused of felonies; but documents prove otherwise
by Margaret Figert
Todd County Tribune
ROSEBUD -- Strongly indicating he didn't believe it necessary to vindicate himself, Rosebud Sioux Tribal Civil Court Judge Brian H. Collins, Mission, has offered proof that he is not guilty of felonious behavior when he was a college student 35 years ago.
The allegations of felonies committed when Collins was ages 20 and 25 were made by members of the Sicangu Lakota Grassroots Oyate, American Indian Movement and the Dakota Lakota Nakota Human Rights Coalition during a march at the Rosebud Sioux Tribe's courthouse Aug. 24, the Saturday of the annual RST Fair, Pow Wow and Rodeo.
At the march, organizer Alfred Bone Shirt, St. Francis, said the purpose of the march was to focus attention on the many, many complaints we have received from tribal members concerning abuses they feel they have received from tribal court, specifically from action by Judge Brian Collins."
Collins, now age 57, is a non-Indian attorney hired by the RST Council as judge of the tribe's civil court. He and his wife, a Yanktonai named Faith Spotted Eagle, live in Mission.
During an interview with Ruth Steinberger, correspondent for the Rapid City-based Lakota Nation Journal, Bone Shirt alleged Collins' record includes two felony convictions, the first in 1965 in Lawrence, KS for breaking and entering and another in Denver CO in 1968 for possession of narcotics.
The allegations surfaced after Collins attempted in December 1999 to purchase a gun at Lock, Stock and Barrel in Valentine, NE. Bone Shirt said Collins lied when he answered "No" to he questionnaire that asked, "Have you ever been convicted in any court for a crime for which the judge could have imprisoned you for more than one year, even if the judge actually gave you a shorter sentence?"
Collins hasn't denied he broke a window following a college party in Kansas or that he possessed marijuana in Colorado.
However, he offered proof he was not convicted of felonies but, in fact, was charged and paid a fine in the Douglas County, Kansas District Court for a misdemeanor that was ordered to be annulled and expunged from the court record over two years ago by District Judge Michal J. Malone.
"Apparently," Collins said this week, "a court clerk didn't complete that paperwork." When Collins tried to purchase a gun for his college-age son nerly three years ago, the manager of Lock, Stock and Barrell, as required by federal firemarms statute, had to seek a background check from the National Information Center.
NiIC reported back to Lock, Stock and Barrel that Collins was ineligible to have the gun because of a breaking and entering conviction in Kansas.
Collins took the gun back.
But the papers about his background that were appropriately passed around to both the Cherry County, NE and the Todd County, SD sheriff's offices were apparently inappropriately photocopied and shared with others outside law enforcement circles. That's how Bone Shirt obtained his copies.
He shared them with Lakota Nation Journal which printed the allegations without an opportunity for Collins to set the record straight.
"I called Tim Giago (LNJ publisher) after their story ran," Collins said this week, "But he declined to return my call."
Bone Shirt also shared the felony allegations with this newspaper which printed a photo of the Rosebud Fair weekend protesters but declined to name Collins until the other side of the story could be heard.
Kansas District Judge Malone's order stated that Collins pled guilty on June 4, 1965 to a misdemeanor violation "and not a felony as erroneously reported to federal authorities."
On June 7, 2000, Judge Malone "ordered, adjudged and decreed" that since Collins had completed parole, including payment of a $100 fine, the "criminal misdemeanor cinviction of Brian H. Collins...is annulled and expunged."
That means court records about Collins' court appearance no longer exist.
When charged with possession of marijuana, then considered a narcotic, in Colorado, Collins was advised to plead "nolo contendere" or no contest.
"At the time I went to court and based on representations made to me by the State of Colorado, the Assistant District Attorney for the state and for the county and the city of Denver," Collins said this week, "by pleading nolo contendere, I was assured by the state I would not be convicted of any crime. When I asked if I would be prohibited from possessing firearms -- in short, I asked if I could hunt ducks -- I was told, yes, I could hunt ducks. A Colorado Supreme Court opinion is consistent with that, and the FBI is not concerned with it."
When the background check triggered by the gun purchase in Valentine reached the FBI, the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Section Chief Timothy Munson, Clarksburg, WV, sent Collins a letter dated Aug. 31 2001 saying that based on certified court documentation the FBI was able to verify that Collins is eligible to purchase or redeem a firearm, confirming that Collins was not convicted of felonies in either Kansas or Colorado.
Collins graduated from Beloit, KS high school in 1962. He attended Gonzaga Law School, Gonzaga University Spokane, WA, obtaining his doctorate of jurisprudence degree in 1987. He was admitted to the Idaho State Bar in 1988 and to the Washington State Bar in 1989.
"In order to be admitted to any state bar," Collins related, "I had to reveal everything in my background, even traffic tickets. I did this with no problems."
But Bone Shirt has indicated he's not convinced. "There's so much collusion and legal trickery going on today," he asserted this week.
Bone Shirt has circulated a letter to members of the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Council accusing Collins of "refusing to act" in entering a judgement on a class action suit filed by RST Public Defender Dana Hanna against the SD Dept. of Social Services earlier this year concerning placement of abused and neglected children.
"I guess someone would benefit from lessons in civics," Collins said agreeably this week.
Court employees told the TRIB/NEWS that Collins handles as many as 70 cases per day in the tribe's civil court, many of them charing Rosebud Reservation husbands, boyfriends and fathers with domestic violence, battering, child neglect, failure to pay child support and other family cases.
Collins readily admits he hasn't ruled yet on the DSS case. Because of his tremendous workload, neither has he been able to rule on dozens of other cases still waiting in files on his desk.
Because of the felony allegations, Collins was previously suspended from his job, without a hearing, for two weeks by the RST Tribal Council. Not only was that a clear violation of Collins' civil rights, the council's action also put Collins another two weeks behind in his work.
Meanwhile, members of the White Buffalo Calf Woman Society, with offices in Mission, have come forward to support Collins.
Saying they frequently accompany battered women to Collins'... (one line unintelligible here) ,,, to be "tough but fair" in handing down prosecution orders, restraining orders, child support awards and more.
"He doesn't put up with any yelling, screaming or throwing things around the courtroom," one WBCWS board member said. "He demands respect for the court and the people in it, and he gets it."
In addition, the women praised Judge Collins for persistence in requiring certain Rosebud fathers to pay child support.
"Judge Collins and I happened to attend the same meeting in 1998 in Pierre, SC with Gov. Bill Jankow," related WBCWS board member Tillie Black Bear, a long time advocate against domestic violence. "That year, our tribal court had collected some $175,000 in child support from non-custodial parents. Since Judge Collins has been hearing child support casees, tribal court has collected $298,500 in 2002 alone, a 71% increase!"
The women agreed it appears, considering the names of some of the Rosebud men photographed carrying signs during the Aug. 24 protest outside the RST Courthouse, "the probably don't like Judge Collins because he's making them pay child support so their children can have food, clothing, and school supplies--and, once in a while, maybe a puzzle, game or toy."
Some reservation residents have also commented that, if Bone Shirt's group wants to fight crime and corruption, they might better serve tribal members by going after rapists, batterers, drug traffickers and dealers who are active today, and not worry so much about someone's 35-year-old college-party misdemeanors.
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