Justices Grant Cert In Tribal Domestic Assault Predicate-Offense Dispute

Mealey's (December 14, 2015, 2:37 PM EST) -- WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 14 agreed to decide whether domestic violence convictions in tribal court in which the defendant did not have counsel can be used to satisfy the predicate-offense element of 18 U.S. Code Section 117(a), which makes it a federal crime to commit domestic assault in Indian country when the offender has two prior convictions in federal, state or tribal court (United States of America v. Michael Bryant, Jr., No. 15-420, U.S. Sup.)....