WA: State search warrant on fee land on Indian reservation valid

The state had jurisdiction to try an offense against state law that occurred on fee land located on an Indian reservation, and state officers could execute a search warrant there. Nevada v. Hicks recognizes that states can prosecute state crimes on fee land. State v. Clark, 167 Wn. App. 667, 274 P.3d 1058 (2012)*:

¶14 This case is neither Baker nor Mathews. Unlike Colorado in the Baker case, Washington had jurisdiction over the crime it was prosecuting. Mathews is a little closer factually, but even if the quoted observation is treated as a rule of law, it has been superseded by Nevada v. Hicks, 533 U.S. 353, 121 S. Ct. 2304, 150 L. Ed. 2d 398 (2001).

¶15 In Hicks, the court faced the question of whether a tribe could assert jurisdiction over state officers serving a state warrant on reservation trust land. The court answered the question in the negative, noting that states typically have jurisdiction over reservation lands unless a competing policy interest prohibited it. 533 U.S. at 361-65. The court specifically ruled that state officers could enter the reservation and serve a search warrant for a crime committed within the state’s jurisdiction. Id. at 363-64.