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Show 6 Letter Of The Law As indicated in last months Letter of the Law article, members of the Ute Indian Tribe need to know the traffic laws of the State of Utah. The Tribe has adopted provisions of the Utah State Traffic Code as the law of the Tribe on the Reservation roads and highways. This makes the laws regarding traffic and driving matters the same both on and off the Reservation so that Tribal members don't have to learn two different sets of laws, one for when they are driving on the Reservation, and another when they are driving off the Reservation. Prohibition of drunken driving is an important part of these traffic laws which all Tribal members need to know. The Tribe has adopted these strict laws against drunk drivers to have caused in the past on help stop the deaths and serious injuries which drunk drivers the Reservation. The Implied Consent Law applies to every person who drives a motor vehicle (car, truck, motorcycle, etc.) anywhere on the Reservation or anywhere else in the State of Utah. The Implied Consent Law comes into effect whenever a police officer has reason to believe that a driver may be driving under the influence of alcohol, that is driving while drunk or after drinking alcoholic beverages. The Implied Consent Law says that any person who drives a motor vehicle in the State of Utah or on the Reservation shall be considered by the law to have given his or her permission to have his breath, blood or urine tested for alcohol after he has been arrested. Since the laws say that everyone is implied" to have given this permission, it requires that any person who actually refuses to give his consent (permission) when asked to take an alcohol test by a police officer, will lose his or her drivers license for a period of one year. In other words, even though the law implies" every drivers permission to make these alcohol tests, each driver is asked by the police officer if he or she will take the test. If the driver refuses to take the test or doesn't answer, the police officer will not give the test, but the driver will lose his driver's license anyway as a result of his refusing to take the test. The law assumes that the driver is drunk or else he would not refuse to take the test. ' This law also provides that if a person is dead, unconscious, or for any other reason unable to give or refuse permission to take the test, such tests may be given since the law implies" permission and the driver is not able to refuse permission at the time. Other parts of the Implied Consent Law give drivers the right to know the results of an alcohol test given to them, and allow a person to have his own doctor give an alcohol test in addition to the test given at the direction of the police officer. Whenever a blood sample is taken for purposes of an alcohol test, such blood should only be withdrawn from the driver by a doctor, nurse or authorized laboratory technician, and not by the police. Breath and urine samples for alcohol tests need not be taken by a medically trained person. Other than the fact that no one should drive after they have been drinking any alcoholic beverages, the most important thing to remember about the Implied Consent Law is that a person's driver's license will be automatically revoked if he or she refuses to take a test for alcohol after being given the chance to do so by a police officer who has arrested the driver on suspicion of drunk driving. The driver who refuses such a test will lose his license whether he has been drinking or not! Once the driver refuses, the police officer sends a report to the Utah State Driver's License Department which schedules a hearing to determine whether or not the driver has refused to take the test. If the hearing decides that the driver did have a chance to take a test and refused to do so, it will revoke the drivers license of the person who refused for one year. The driver's license will automatically be revoked if the driver doesn't show up for the hearing. These 'hearings don't even consider whether or not the driver was drinking, but only whether or not he refused to take the test. AIM Leaders Acquitted of Five Charges ST. PAUL, Minn. (AIPA) Federal District Court Judge Fred J. Nichol has dropped five counts of the original federal indictment against 10-cou- nt Tribal members who drive should also be aware that a police officer who stops them and suspects that they may have been driving under the influence of alcohol, may give them what is called a field sobriety test" before they ask them to take an alcohol test under the Implied Consent Law. A field sobriety test helps the officer decide whether or not to arrest the person for drunk driving. The police officer may ask the driver to walk a straight line, balance with his eyes closed and his feet close together, touch the tip of his nose with his finger while his eyes are closed, or other short tests which indicate how steady or coordinated the driver is at the time. All Tribal members should remember that even though the Tribe does not prohibit drinking, it does prohibit drunk driving. You should also remember that the law is very strict in dealing with people who drive after they have been drinking, and that a person can be drunk as far as the law is concerned before he actully considers himself to be drunk. The Implied Consent Law helps the police to control drunk driving which creates serious dangers to all residents of the Reservation. Every driver should remember that if he refuses to take an alcohol test after he has been arrested, he will automatically lose his driver's license, even if he hasn't been drinking. EDITOR'S NOTE: The above article was written by Boyden and Kennedy of Salt Lake City. ' Russell C. Means and Dennis J. Banks here as the case for the prosecution in the first Wounded Knee conspiracy trial ended and the case for the defense prepared to open. The Wounded Knee trial, which has already run for a full eight months beginning Jan. 8, entered a new phase here as Judge Nichol acquitted Banks and Means of five of the original 10 counts brought against them by a federal grand jury last year. On Aug. 7, Nichol dropped the charge of larceny related to the breaking and entering of the Wounded Knee trading post on Feb. 27, 1973, a charge of possessing unauthorized firearms and particularly Molotov cocktails, and a charge of stealing a vehicle. And on Aug. 9, Nichol also dropped charges against the two accusing them nf obstructing federal agents and officers in the performance of their duties during a civil disorder," because a state of civil disorder had never fqrmally' been declared, and becaus'e the Judge determined that involvement of military forces was illegal. Federal charges still standing against Banks and Means are one count of conspiracy, one count of burglary related to theft of trading post items, and three counts of assault, one against FBI Special Agent Joanne Pierce with a dangerous weapon on Mar. 8, 1973, one against the wounding of FBI Special Agent Curtis Fitzgerald on Mar. 11, 1973, and one against assaulting and wounding U.S. Marshal Lloyd H. Grimm on Mar. 26. 1973. Defense attorneys for Banks and Means must now answer the remaining charges with evidence and witnesses that the two were not involved in the five remaining counts. Defense attorneys have subpoenaed over 25 witnesses, most of them residents of the Pine Ridge Oglala Sioux Reservation where the Wounded Knee occupation occurred between Feb. 27 and May 8, 1973. Other subpoenaed witnesses include authors Vine Deloria Jr. (Standing Rock Sioux) and Dee Brown, who wrote Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, and Chief Frank Kill Enemy. A spokesman for the defense attorneys told AIPA former President Richard M. Nixon may also yet be subpoenaed as a witness in the trial, and Nixons onetime legal counsel John W. Dean II has already offered to testify voluntarily concerning' White House actions during the occupation. Arguments were heard in court Aug. 12 concerning the subpoenaing of White House tapes of presidential conversations during the dates of the occupation when a White House toping system was then in place and working, Cattlemen's Association Plan Southwest Meet The new National Indian Cattlemen's Assn., formed last May 25, will assemble in Albuquerque, N.M., Sept. 4 at the Midway Holiday Inn to set their and membership objectives, by-lacommittee. They will also participate in cattle marketing panels, land leasing panels, and look at the financing of the market. Speakers scheduled to appear include Indian Commissioner Morris Thompson, the New Mexico governor, the mayor of Albuquerque, the president of New Mexico State University, and the . head of the Office of Native American Programs, George Blue Spruce. The session will conclude with a Stockmens' 12-1- Ball. |