KLAS-TV Channel 8 News Las VegasLas Vegas Paiute Tribal Blood Feud
Debra Faria, Las Vegas Paiute
whiteout used to alter or obliterate the blood recordsImagine waking up tomorrow and finding out you're no longer related to your ancestors. That's a lot like the jarring news delivered to 14 long-time members of the Las Vegas Paiute tribe.
Six years ago, the tribal council booted them out, saying they no longer had enough Paiute blood to remain in the tribe. They won a hard-fought legal battle but then the tribe decided to ignore the court ruling.
Debra Faria said, "In my heart, I will always be Paiute. You cannot take that away from me."
Debra Faria may be a Paiute in her heart, but to the Paiute Tribal Council, she's a non-person. Six years ago, the council voted to boot Faria and 13 others out of the tribe, taking away the $100,000 a year salary they each received from the proceeds of lucrative tribal businesses.
The tribe insists the disenrollment had nothing to do with money, but the ousted members think it's pure greed. Faria maintains, "I never realized my own family and friends within the tribe would do this to me. They've stolen my heritage, my blood, and my family history."
For the past 12 weeks, Faria has been picketing a local law office because that is where the tribe's lawyer works. David Colvin advised the tribal council it could legally oust the 14 members, even though the tribe's constitution seems to say otherwise.
Prior to the disenrollment vote, someone in the tribe used whiteout to alter or obliterate the blood records of the ousted Paiutes. Colvin told the I-Team back then that the heavy-handed forgery of the records didn't affect the council's decision.
David Colvin, lawyer for Paiute tribe, said, "The burden of proof is whatever the tribe says it is. Basically, whatever the council says."
But several judges have disagreed. The ousted members have won victory after victory in the tribal courts, even though the judges were employed by the tribe. It's the first time in Native American law that a tribal judge has ruled against a tribal council in an enrollment dispute. The tribe appealed all of the previous rulings, stretching the case out for years, putting further emotional and financial pressure on the already struggling ex-members.
Late last year, an appeals court ruled the tribe violated its own laws and constitution and ordered the reinstatement of the disenrolled, along with years of back pay. The Paiute Tribal Council responded recently by firing its judges, declaring that it will decide the case on its own.
Michael Stuhff is the attorney for disenrolled Paiutes. He said, "The closest we could come is if Erin Kenny and Lance Malone could say let's fire those judges bringing prosecution against us."
Mike Stuhff thinks the tribe was confident it could win with its own judges but knew all along it could toss out the rules if it lost, thus treating its own members the way that whites have treated Native Americans for centuries.
Other tribes across the country are fighting similar battles, usually involving casino money. The federal government won't intervene, and federal courts don't have jurisdiction, with one possible exception.
One of Stuhff's clients was recently arrested on the reservation for minor charges. The tribe was willing to drop the charges if the suspect would admit he is not a Paiute. He refused and has been in jail ever since. That may give Stuhff a way to get the disenrollment issue into federal court.
He's asking a federal judge to intervene and has accused the tribe of racketeering and civil rights violations. A federal judge would strike down the disenrollments in an instant, Stuhff believes. The banished Paiutes hope it gets that far.
Debra Faria holds steadfast, "I'm not going to stop until I'm reinstated. What they did to me was wrong, and they know its wrong."
The Paiute tribe previously declined to comment on the dispute. Attorneys for the tribe explain under the Pauite's constitution, the tribal council has the final say over issues of membership eligibility, not the tribal courts.
