## Facts

- Bob (Robert Harrison) Talton, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, was prosecuted in Cherokee courts for murdering another Cherokee within Cherokee territory.
- A Cherokee grand jury of five returned the indictment under Cherokee law.
- Talton was tried in a Cherokee “special supreme court” for the Cooweeskoowee District, convicted of murder on December 31, 1892, and sentenced to death.
- Wash (Washington) Mayes, High Sheriff of the Cherokee Nation, held Talton in the Cherokee national jail at Tahlequah pending execution.
- Talton sought federal habeas relief, arguing that the five-person grand jury violated the Fifth Amendment and that Cherokee law required a thirteen-person grand jury.
- The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas denied habeas relief and remanded Talton to Cherokee custody.

## Issues

1. Whether the Fifth Amendment’s grand jury requirement applies to criminal prosecutions in the courts of the Cherokee Nation for offenses against tribal law.
2. Whether an alleged misapplication of Cherokee grand-jury statutes (five versus thirteen jurors) presents a federal question cognizable on federal habeas corpus.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court affirmed the denial of habeas relief and upheld Talton’s remand to Cherokee custody.
- The Court held that the Fifth Amendment’s grand jury requirement does not apply to prosecutions in Cherokee courts for crimes against Cherokee law.
- The Court treated disputes about the content, repeal, or interpretation of Cherokee grand-jury statutes as matters for Cherokee courts, not federal habeas review, absent a conflict with federal treaties or federal statutes.

## Legal Principles

- Constitutional provisions in the Bill of Rights that limit the federal government, including the Fifth Amendment grand jury clause, do not automatically restrict a tribal government exercising inherent authority in its own courts.
- A crime prosecuted as an offense against tribal law, within tribal jurisdiction, is not governed by federal grand-jury requirements applicable to prosecutions for offenses against the United States.
- Federal habeas corpus does not function as general supervisory review of tribal criminal procedure; alleged errors of tribal law are not federal questions unless they implicate an applicable federal statute, treaty obligation, or other controlling federal law.

## Conclusion

The Court held that the Cherokee Nation’s prosecution of a Cherokee defendant for an intra-tribal crime was not subject to the Fifth Amendment’s grand jury requirement, and that alleged errors in applying Cherokee grand-jury law did not provide a basis for federal habeas relief without a demonstrated conflict with federal law.


Talton v. Mayes, 163 U.S. 376 (1896)