OKMULGEE, Okla. — The Muscogee Nation National Council unanimously passed a bill that will make child endangerment a felony charge.
Dode Barnett, one of the 16 representatives on the national council, told 2 News the bill was proposed by Chief David Hills office about a month ago. After they national council passed it, he signed it into law.
This comes nearly a month and a half since the moment a young foster child was left outside in freezing temperatures in pajamas and no shoes on. The foster mother, Kaytlin Fultz, is being prosecuted in Muscogee Creek Nation court.
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"Clearly the Chief’s office thought that this was something that needed to be amended in the law and the national council agreed, in order to protect our most vulnerable citizens, our children," said Barnett.
Before April 4, the MCN didn't have a felony child neglect law.
Confusion arose after the Haskell couple turned themselves in, as Kaytlin received different charges from her husband, Andrew.
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Kaytlin is a Cherokee Nation citizen, but because the alleged crimes happened on the Muscogee Nation reservation, they are taking on her case.
Currently, she faces a misdemeanor child neglect charge. The MCN said the new law won't work retroactively, so her charges won't change.
Andrew is being tried in Muskogee County and faces a felony child neglect charge.
2 News asked Jason Salsman, MCN's Director of Communications, if he this change was connected to the Fultz's case.
"Not specifically," said Salsman. "This is just a continuation of us realizing there are places in code that need to be amended and we go hey we need to go talk to our lawmakers."
He said this is one of many amendments the Muscogee Creek have been looking at addressing for several years. The timeline of things is just a coincident, he said.
“The case that you speak of, the high profile case, where we do have a lot of eyes on everything that we’re doing, we do take a look at all of our things and our code a little bit harder and we do see if there are things we can amend and fix things," said Salsman.
The bill was unanimously passed by the national council. Chief David Hill signed the bill into law shortly after, a spokesperson confirmed to 2 News.
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