Article Author:
Associated Press
Amy Beth Hanson
Helena, Mon. (AP) — The Montana Supreme Court has ruled liability for damages awarded to a Montana woman who became pregnant after her BIA officer on duty used the threat of criminal charges to coerce her into having sex. I have ruled that the Bureau may be liable.
A woman identified by the initials L.B. According to her attorney John Heenan, former BIA employee Dana Bulcumming and his employer have been accused of sexual assault on the North Cheyenne Indian Reservation in October 2015, which resulted in the birth of a child, now 7 years old. sued.
"This one has the courage to report a sexual assault to federal law enforcement officers and go through the entire process, including agents to collect the DNA. A woman who had courage when the child was born," Heenan said Wednesday. She took the case on behalf of people living on the reservation to show that they "should have the same rights as Montanas in this matter."
U.S. District Court Susan Her Judge Watters of Billings ordered the woman to pay her $1.6 million in damages in May 2020, but under federal law coercion and sexual acts are outside the law. BIA had previously ruled that it would not be held liable for the payment because Scope of Bulcumming's mission.
The woman appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, asking the Montana Supreme Court to determine whether federal agencies can be held accountable under state law.
Since the 2009 court ruling, Montana law holds that employers are responsible for the actions of their employees when they are obligated to provide protection. Judged, she said, Heenan.
On Tuesday, the Montana Supreme Court ruled her 5 to 2, and the facts of the case established: ’” wrote Judge Laurie McKinnon.
The conduct at issue here "entails the arrest and criminal prosecution of a BIA official with the intention and purpose of coercing her to have sexual intercourse with him."
The BIA did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
Heenan said she expected the case to be remanded to her Watters court to hold BIA financially liable.
"Today is a great day for Indigenous women in Montana," said several Montana tribes who were registered members of the Fort Peck Tribe and submitted briefs to support L.B. Representing Attorney April Youpy Roll said: statement. “The Montana Supreme Court has closed the gap and offered us the same remedy for sexual assault on the job by law enforcement that Montana already gave our neighbors.”
In this case, I called the L.B. dispatcher to report that my mother had been driving drunk after returning from a bar outside the reservation. After confirming that the woman's mother was safe, Bulcumming went to the woman's home in Lamedia and asked if she had been drinking and that she was at home with her two children. did.
He then took her to a police car and gave her a breath test. As a result, it was revealed that she was legally intoxicated and violated tribal laws prohibiting drinking on the Southeastern Montana reservation. the record said.
She asked Bulcumming not to arrest herself or call tribal social services for fear of losing custody of her children and her job, according to court records. , Bullcumming replied, "You must do something."[54][55] Court records show that when the woman asked if that meant sex, Bullcumming replied that it meant sex. A: The woman became pregnant.
After DNA testing confirmed that Brucuming was the child's father, Brucuming used the power and authority granted to him by the BIA to deprive the woman of her rights. He was sentenced to three years in federal prison.
