BEGGS, Okla. (KFOR) – Attorneys for an Oklahoma mother accused of murdering two of her children is asking for the case to be dismissed following a recent ruling by the United States Supreme Court.
In November of 2018, officials with the Okmulgee County Sheriff’s Office say dispatchers received a 911 call from a teenager who was staying the night at his best friend’s home.
He says he and his best friend, 18-year-old Kayson Toliver, were asleep when he heard some noise on Kayson’s side of the bed.
“I woke up to a light on and [Kayson’s] mom on his side of the bed,” he told KJRH. “She told me, ‘Sorry,’ and that’s when she done it.”
When authorities arrived at the scene, they found two teenagers suffering from gunshot wounds and the body of 18-year-old Kayson Toliver.
A court affidavit claims the children’s mother, Amy Hall, told the district attorney that she “was so sorry” for what she “had done” and allegedly admitted to trying to kill her three children.
In the affidavit, Hall allegedly admitted to shooting Toliver in the head while he was asleep. She then allegedly shot 16-year-old Kloee Toliver in the head, which woke the 14-year-old. Hall reportedly shot at her as she ran to a bathroom.
Officials say Amy Hall mentioned her ex-husband, and said part of her thought she was saving her children.
Kayson Toliver and 16-year-old Kloee Toliver died as a result of their injuries.
Hall has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of shooting with intent to kill.
The case against Hall was put on hold after she tried to commit suicide while in custody.
However, she has since been ruled mentally competent to stand trial, and has waived her right to a preliminary hearing.
Now, Hall’s attorney has filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that the state “lacks subject-matter jurisdiction to prosecute” Hall.
The documents claim that since the victims were members of a federally recognized tribe and that the alleged crimes occurred within the “boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Reservation.”
The argument is based on a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.
On July 9, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the Muscogee (Creek) reservation was never disestablished. It’s a ruling that has a big impact on the state’s criminal justice system.
“For anybody that has an Indian card, a CDIB card, a certified degree of Indian blood,” Native American law attorney Robert Gifford told KFOR. “If they are within the Creek Nation, the state of Oklahoma had no jurisdiction over them.”
At this point, a judge has not ruled on the dismissal request.
