9th Circuit Overturns Assault Conviction Over Certificate Of Indian Blood

Mealey's (August 2, 2016, 11:24 AM EDT) -- SAN FRANCISCO — A man was wrongly convicted of assault on an Indian reservation resulting in serious bodily injury because the trial court abused its discretion when it determined that a Certificate of Indian Blood offered into evidence by the government to establish the accused’s Indian status was a self-authenticating document, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Aug. 1 in reversing the conviction and remanding (United States of America v. Edgar Mike Alvirez, Jr., No. 11-10244, 9th Cir.; 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 13966)....