NM- Court rules against NM in tribal sex offender case

6-5-2009 New Mexico:

SANTA FE (AP) - A New Mexico court has ruled the state's sex offender registration law does not apply to Indians on tribal land.

The Court of Appeals decision involved three Navajos. They were arrested separately in northwestern New Mexico outside the Navajo reservation for failing to register as sex offenders under a state law.

The three men lived on tribal land and did not work or go to school off the reservation. They each had been previously convicted under federal law of sex offenses against minors.

The court says New Mexico lacked the jurisdiction to enforce its sex offender registration law in Indian country.

The state arrests occurred before the Navajo Nation implemented its own sex offender registration law in April 2006. ..Source.. byABC News