US attorney: Eagle feathers in caskets were legal

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) – Native American police officers did not break the law by burying eagle feathers with two slain Rapid City officers in order to honor them, a federal prosecutor said, rejecting a call to bring charges by an American Indian group.

Representatives of the Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council contend that the Native American officers had no right to possess the eagle feathers because they aren't enrolled members of a federally recognized tribe.

Floyd Hand, a council delegate, asked Rapid City Police Chief Steve Allender to return the eagle feathers. Allender then asked the U.S. Attorney's office to review the situation. U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson said the Indian officers who provided the feathers had the legal right to do so, the Rapid City Journal reported Wednesday.

“The Native American officers who possessed them were exercising their religious beliefs by having them buried with their fallen colleagues,” Johnson said of the eagle feathers. “I think it's very clear that these officers were exercising their religious rights. It was a legitimate thing for them to do and there was no federal violation.”

Native American police honored slain officers – J. Ryan McCandless and Nick Armstrong, who were killed Aug. 2 during a shootout – by putting eagle feathers in their caskets.

“That's really a violation,” Hand said. “The family has no right burying eagle feathers. That's against the federal law,” Hand said, adding that Johnson needs to “read his Treaty Council.”

The Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council is composed of 17 members who advocate for the provisions of the 1851 and 1868 treaties to be upheld by the U.S. government. Hand is one of three delegates from the Oglala Lakota tribe.

Johnson's legal interpretation of the situation includes the federal Migratory Bird Act, which has protected the bald eagle since 1940 and the golden eagle since 1962. The act permits tribal members to possess the feathers of eagles and other migratory birds for use in religious ceremonies, but they may not sell them. While there is no specific language in the act for giving the feathers as gifts to non-Native Americans, Johnson said his decision is based on the premise that honoring the memory of fallen colleagues with an eagle feather is a religious practice for Native American police officers.

Those who violate the act can face a fine of up to $5,000 or up to a year in prison, or both.

Johnson said his investigation showed that the Native American officers, whom he declined to identify, were in lawful possession of the feathers.

Thomas Shortbull, an Oglala Lakota and president of Oglala Lakota College, said an eagle feather is the “highest honor that an Indian person can give another.”

He called the presentation of the eagle feathers to the fallen police officers a “nice gesture of respect” and said he did not believe it violated the spirit of the law. The federal law is designed to prevent the wanton killing of eagles, not keep the Native American community from expressing its solidarity with a grieving city, Shortbull said.

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Information from: Rapid City Journal, http://www.rapidcityjournal.com