Apr. 7—The Cherokee Nation has filed more than 400 criminal cases since its eastern Oklahoma reservation was formally recognized last month and needs help from Congress to meet jurisdictional obligations that reach into 14 counties, Cherokee Nation Attorney General Sara Hill said Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters, Hill said the tribe will need financial aid to expand its criminal justice system, but also needs federal legislation allowing more flexibility in how cases are prosecuted. She renewed the tribe’s call for congressional authority to negotiate a compact with the state regarding criminal jurisdiction on the reservation.

“With additional tools, the state and the tribe can rewrite the rules of criminal jurisdiction in ways that better serve and protect everyone who lives on the Cherokee Nation reservation,” Hill said.

“We don’t have to continue with a system that makes the jobs of law enforcement and prosecutors extremely difficult.”

Most counties in eastern Oklahoma, and some in central Oklahoma, are now part of Indian reservations for the purpose of criminal jurisdiction because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision — known as the McGirt decision — issued last year and state court rulings made in the last few weeks.

The courts have ruled that Congress never disestablished the reservations of the Five Tribes: the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Muscogee (Creeks) and Seminoles. That means crimes involving Native Americans must be prosecuted in federal or tribal courts.

The federal government generally prosecutes major crimes, with the tribes handling misdemeanors. Among the shortcomings in the system, Hill said, is that tribal courts cannot impose prison sentences that exceed three years.

Since the rulings, federal and tribal prosecutors have filed hundreds of cases that had previously been filed in state district courts. The cases are a combination of ones in which a person was already convicted of a crime and others in which charges were pending.

Hill told reporters on Tuesday that 440 cases had been refiled in its tribal court. Last week, the Choctaw Nation said it was prepared to file 125 cases in its court.

Members of the Five Tribes had been preparing for months — hiring more marshals, prosecutors, judges and victims’ advocates and coordinating with local law enforcement officials.

Hill said the Cherokee Nation invested $10 million in the effort and is seeking a $2 million federal grant to hire special assistant U.S. attorneys who can file cases in tribal and federal courts.

“Certainly we’re going to continue to ask the United States for assistance in this expansion,” she said, noting that the workload of U.S. attorneys’ offices has also increased dramatically.

“The need in Oklahoma both on the tribal side and on the federal side is going to be something that is going to have to be addressed.”

Hill said Cherokee Nation officials had been talking to the Oklahoma congressional delegation about legislation that would preserve the tribe’s sovereignty but allow state prosecutors to handle some cases involving Native Americans. The Chickasaw Nation also supports the approach of allowing each tribe to negotiate separately with the state on jurisdiction.

One example of cases the state might take, Hill said, are those in which a person who is not a member of a tribe committed a crime against someone who is on a reservation.

Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter, who also wants congressional authority to negotiate compacts on criminal jurisdiction, believes the state already has jurisdiction in cases involving non-tribal perpetrators and has vowed to take his arguments to the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of death row inmate Shaun Bosse.

Oklahoma’s congressional delegation is all Republican in a Congress controlled by Democrats. However, Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, is a member of the Chickasaw Nation, and Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Westville, is a member of the Cherokee Nation, and both are influential voices on Indian matters.

In a statement to The Oklahoman last month, Sen. Jim Inhofe said he was “working with state officials, the tribes and the delegation to find solutions that ensure criminals are prosecuted and brought to justice. Our number one priority continues to be the safety of each and every Oklahoman.”