Andrew John Yellowbear Jr. facts for kids
Andrew John Yellowbear Jr. (born September 5, 1974) was involved in a very important court case in Wyoming. In April 2006, he was found responsible for the death of his young daughter, Marcela Hope Yellowbear, in Thermopolis, Wyoming. He was then given a life sentence in prison, meaning he would stay there without the chance of being released early.
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Court Cases After the Trial
After Andrew Yellowbear Jr. was found responsible, he asked the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming to review his case. He believed that the state courts in Wyoming should not have handled his trial. Instead, he thought the case should have been heard in a tribal or federal court.
The Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes supported his request. Both Yellowbear and his daughter's mother are members of the Northern Arapaho tribe. This tribe shares the Wind River Indian Reservation with the Eastern Shoshone tribe.
Why the Location of the Crime Mattered
Yellowbear's lawyers argued that the trial should have been held in a different court because the event happened in Riverton. Riverton is a city surrounded by an Indian reservation. For American Indians, serious crimes (called felonies) that happen on a reservation are usually handled by a federal court. Less serious crimes (called misdemeanors) are heard in the tribal courts of that reservation.
Eagle Feathers and Religious Rights
In 2008, Yellowbear started another legal case. He claimed that the Wyoming Department of Corrections (the group that runs prisons) had taken away ten bald eagle feathers he used for his religious ceremonies. He felt this went against his constitutional rights. In July 2008, a judge named Alan Bond Johnson agreed to a solution. This agreement allowed Yellowbear to receive four eagle feathers for his religious practices.
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