Officers with the State Bureau of Investigation and the Cherokee Indian Police Department arrested Swain County Sheriff Curtis Cochran last week following a joint investigation into alleged sexual assaults he committed against women on Cherokee land.
Sheriff Cochran, 72, was suspended from office by a superior court judge shortly after his arrest. He now faces three distinct legal battles: a petition for his permanent removal from office, four state criminal charges and three tribal criminal charges.
The removal of a sheriff from office is rare in North Carolina. State statute lays out a procedure to remove a sheriff or other law enforcement officer for failing to perform the duties of office, misconduct, corruption, extortion, intoxication and conviction of a felony.
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The petition for removal filed by District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch stated that Cochran is guilty of misconduct and corruption.
“Defendant Curtis Cochran has shown on multiple occasions that he is willing to misuse the power and authority inherent to the office of Sheriff for improper and criminal personal gain,” the petition read.
The tribal charges brought against the sheriff by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians add an unprecedented layer of complexity to the situation. Cochran, a non-Indian, is accused of assaulting an enrolled-member of the tribe in Indian Country.
Just several years ago, the charges brought by the Eastern Band wouldn’t have been possible because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s limits on tribal courts’ authority. A 2022 federal law expanded their ability to prosecute non-Indians for certain crimes without risk of double jeopardy.
Now, the embattled sheriff potentially faces criminal convictions in two separate court systems for the same alleged assaults.
Sheriff removal petition details investigation
The DA’s petition for removal provided a comprehensive timeline of the days leading up to Cochran’s arrest, and showing that the case came together within just a few days.
A Cherokee woman filed a report with the Cherokee Indian Police Department on Sunday, June 22, stating that she had been sexually assaulted by the sheriff earlier that day, the petition says.
The woman said she and her boyfriend were walking along the side of the road after having gotten into a verbal altercation. The woman was crying when she saw Sheriff Cochran’s SUV on the road, and she flagged it down hoping that a law enforcement officer would diffuse the situation.
Cochran stopped and offered to take the woman for a drive, which she agreed to. But shortly after she got in his car, the sheriff made unwanted advances, touching the woman’s breast and thigh, according to the petition.
He then urged the woman to perform oral sex on him, which she refused, the petition says. Cochran continued to ask her for oral sex, asking “how much she charges.” At one point, the sheriff pulled over to the side of the road, got out of the vehicle and blocked the woman from exiting. He told her that if she performed sexual favors for him, he would help her out anytime she needed something in the future.
After the woman continued to deny Cochran’s advances, he got back in his vehicle and drove her home. But on the ride back, the woman said that he took his genitals out of his pants and began touching himself, the petition says.
Before dropping the woman off at her house, the sheriff told her to keep the incident a secret. Instead, she reported it to the Cherokee police later that day, according to the petition.
The report initiated a criminal investigation which involved state and federal law enforcement.
By the following day, agents with the FBI and SBI had reported to the Qualla Boundary — the 56,000 acres of federal land which envelops the town of Cherokee and other territory under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Band.
That afternoon, an assistant chief with the Cherokee police spotted the sheriff’s SUV driving suspiciously in the area. He began to tail the vehicle, which he believed was attempting to elude him.
The officer eventually stopped the SUV outside a nearby nursing home, and found Cochran and a woman inside. This woman, who was not a member of the Eastern Band, had recently been released from the tribal jail in Cherokee.
The officer didn’t detain Cochran at that point, but followed his vehicle to the Travel Center where the sheriff let the woman out and drove away.
Inside the travel center, the woman told police that Cochran was a “sick, perverted old man” and described being assaulted by him in a similar manner to the Cherokee woman from the day before, according to the petition. He had picked her up from outside the jail and offered her a ride home before groping her inside his vehicle.
Further investigation over the course of that week led officers with the Cherokee police and SBI to arrest the sheriff on Friday, June 27. He was charged by the state with sexual battery, assault on a female, soliciting prostitution and felonious restraint. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians charged him with abusive sexual contact and two counts of oppression in office.
Tribal charges present novel legal situation
According to Indian law expert Daniel Rice, a professor at the UNC School of Law, the tribe wouldn’t even have had standing to bring those charges against Cochran as recently as three years ago.
Congress’ reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in 2022 expanded tribes’ authority to prosecute certain crimes committed by non-Indians against Indian victims. A controversial 1978 Supreme Court decision, Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, previously held that tribes lacked jurisdiction over any crimes committed by non-Indian perpetrators without Congressional authorization.
The most recent authorizations of the Violence Against Women Act—colloquially referred to as “VAWA” by legal scholars — in 2013 and 2022 returned some of that prosecutorial authority to the tribes.
“This does strike me as exactly the sort of situation that the 2022 law was designed to cover,” Rice said of the tribal charges against the sheriff.
“I think most everyone’s intuition is that, of course, the tribe should be able to prosecute in this sort of situation, given the rampant nature of sexual abuse by non-Indians on Indians within Indian country.”
Michell Hicks, the principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, said in a public statement on Sunday that the tribe used its “inherent sovereign jurisdiction via VAWA 2022” to bring charges for each alleged crime.
“We will continue to use all sovereign authority and power to protect the due process rights of the (Eastern Band) and the people within its lands,” Hicks wrote.
“The safety of our people is, and always will be, our highest priority.”
In most contexts, individuals can’t be tried twice for the same crime, thanks to the Double Jeopardy Clause in the U.S. Constitution. However, “well-settled” Supreme Court precedent allows for individuals to be concurrently tried for crimes in tribal court and federal court, given the inherent sovereignty of Indian tribes.
“There is no double jeopardy problem when both a tribe and a state government prosecute the same conduct,” Rice said.
Cochran made his first appearance in tribal court in Cherokee on Monday, an arraignment hearing in which he pleaded not guilty to all charges against him. His next court hearing is scheduled for Sept. 29.
Meanwhile, Cochran made his first appearance in Swain County district court on Tuesday for the state criminal charges.
His removal proceedings are being heard by a separate superior court judge. A hearing for the suspension as sheriff is scheduled for July 7, and a final determination on the removal petition is set for July 21.
Neither Cochran — through his legal counsel — or the Swain County manager responded to requests for comment before the publication of this story.
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