Tulsa lacks the jurisdiction to prosecute a Native American man cited by police for speeding because the city is located within the boundaries of an Indian reservation, a federal appeals court ruled.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision on Wednesday, rejecting the city's argument that the Curtis Act, an 1898 federal law passed before Oklahoma became a state, gave the city jurisdiction over municipal violations committed by Native Americans.

The court's ruling was based on the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 2020 decision that found that much of eastern Oklahoma, including Tulsa, remains an Indian reservation because it was never formally disestablished by Congress. That ruling has since been expanded to include several other reservations in eastern and southern Oklahoma that make up about 40% of the state.

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Justin Hooper, a citizen of the Choctaw Nation, was cited for speeding in 2018 by Tulsa police in a part of the city within the historic boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. He paid a $150 fine for the ticket, but filed a lawsuit after the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma. He argued that the city did not have jurisdiction because his offense was committed by a Native American in Indian Country. A municipal court and a federal district court judge both sided with the city, but a three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit reversed the lower court's decision.

The decision was immediately derided by Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican who is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation but has had an increasingly hostile relationship with Native American tribes in the state that stems from a feud over tribal casinos.

"Citizens of Tulsa, if your city government cannot enforce something as simple as a traffic violation, there will be no rule of law in eastern Oklahoma," Stitt said in a statement. "This is just the beginning. It is plain and simple, there cannot be a different set of rules for people solely based on race."

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Stitt's reaction to the ruling drew harsh condemnation from David Hill, the principal chief of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, who said he was unsure if the governor's remarks were "born of intentional dishonesty or an inexcusable ignorance of the laws."

"Race has nothing to do with this," Hill said. "There is no law that Tulsa PD can't enforce. That's the part Stitt keeps ignoring as he perpetuates needless attacks on tribes."

Ironically, Stitt's own brother, Keith Stitt, also used his tribal citizenship to challenge Tulsa's jurisdiction after police issued him a speeding ticket in 2021.

Experts on tribal law say there is an easy solution — for Tulsa to enter into prosecution agreements with various tribal nations like many cities and towns in eastern Oklahoma already have.

"It has always been the case that the City of Tulsa has the authority to write tickets and send those over to our various nations," said Sara Hill, attorney general of the Cherokee Nation, which also has reservation land that encompasses parts of north Tulsa. "They simply haven't been doing that in favor of this Curtis Act argument."

Under the agreements with municipalities, the portion of the revenue from tickets that is typically remitted to the state of Oklahoma is instead sent to the tribal nation whose reservation the city or town is located in, Hill said. The rest of the money can be retained by the city or town.

Under such arrangements, city police officers can identify whether a defendant is a member of a Native American tribe and simply use an alternate ticket book, said John Dunn, an attorney who represented Hooper in the case. Any pleas, warrants or other judicial action that would require a judge's signature would then be forwarded for consideration by a tribal judge.

Tulsa officials said in a statement that they were still reviewing the court's decision and did not immediately respond to inquiries about whether they planned to enter into such agreements with the Muscogee (Creek) or Cherokee nations.

Former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is not competent to stand trial on charges accusing him of sexually assaulting a teenage boy in Massachusetts decades ago, an expert for the prosecution says, raising doubts about the future of the criminal case against the 92-year-old.

Prosecutors this week disclosed the findings of their expert to the judge, who will ultimately rule on the once-powerful American prelate's ability to face charges that he abused the boy at a wedding reception at Wellesley College in 1974.

McCarrick has maintained that he is innocent, and pleaded not guilty in September 2021. He was also charged in April with sexually assaulting an 18-year-old man in Wisconsin more than 45 years ago.

In February, McCarrick's attorneys asked the court to dismiss the case, saying a professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine had examined him and concluded that he has dementia, likely Alzheimer's disease.

At that time, lawyers said McCarrick had a "limited understanding" of the criminal proceedings against him, but that "his progressive and irreparable cognitive deficits render him unable to meaningfully consult with counsel or to effectively assist in his own defense."

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Prosecutors later hired their own expert to assess McCarrick, who filed their own report on the man's competency, which has not been made public. The judge set a hearing on the matter for Aug. 30.

McCarrick, who lives in Dittmer, Missouri, was charged with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14. He was not exempt from facing charges because the clock stopped on the statute of limitations when he left Massachusetts.

Mitchell Garabedian, a well-known lawyer for clergy sexual abuse victims who is representing the man accusing McCarrick, said Thursday that his client is "obviously discouraged" by the prosecution expert's findings. He said his client remains determined to continue with lawsuits he has filed in other states.

"By proceeding with the civil lawsuits my client is empowering himself, other clergy sexual abuse victims and making the world a safer place for children," Garabedian said.

The Associated Press generally doesn’t identify people who report sexual assault unless they agree to be named publicly, which the victim in this case has not done.

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The accuser told authorities during a 2021 interview that McCarrick was close to the man’s family when he was growing up. Prosecutors say McCarrick would attend family gatherings and travel on vacations with them and that the victim referred to the priest as "Uncle Ted."

Prosecutors say McCarrick abused him over several years including when the boy, who was then 16, was at his brother’s wedding reception at Wellesley College.

Prosecutors say McCarrick told the boy his dad wanted him to have a talk with the priest because the boy was "being mischievous at home and not attending church." The man told investigators that they took a walk around campus, and McCarrick groped him before they went back to the party. The man said McCarrick also sexually assaulted him in a coat room after they returned to the reception, authorities wrote in the documents.

Prosecutors say McCarrick told the boy to say the "Hail Mary" and "Our Father" prayers before leaving the room.

Ordained as a priest in New York City in 1958, McCarrick was defrocked by Pope Francis in 2019 after a Vatican investigation determined he sexually molested adults as well as children. An internal Vatican investigation found that bishops, cardinals and popes downplayed or dismissed reports of sexual misconduct over many years.

The case created a credibility crisis for the church since the Vatican had reports from authoritative cardinals dating to 1999 that McCarrick’s behavior was problematic, yet he became an influential cardinal, kingmaker and emissary of the Holy See’s "soft diplomacy."