37.04.030 Duties of the Tribal Court

(a) When a defendant is arrested for any violation under this Code, the Court shall automatically issue a temporary ex-parte Protection Order as provided in Chapter 37.05 of this Code.

(b) The Court shall order that anyone immediately arrested under this Code be held in the custody of the Police Department for a period not less than 12 hours as a mandatory "cooling off" period, regardless of when arraignment occurs.

(c) Prior to release of the defendant, the Court shall provide information to the victim regarding the availability of domestic violence services and groups or refer the victim to appropriate service providers.

(d) Because of the serious nature of domestic violence:

(1) Disposition of cases shall not be delayed or dismissed because of concurrent dissolution of marriage proceedings or other civil actions.

(2) Any requirement that the victim's location be disclosed shall be waived and communication with the victim regarding the domestic violence case shall be conducted through the victim's advocate or the Court.

(3) Docket sheets of criminal actions arising from acts of domestic violence shall be identified by any reasonable means.

(4) When the Court dismisses criminal domestic violence charges upon a motion by the prosecutor or upon a finding of insufficient evidence, the specific reasons for the dismissal must be recorded in the Court file. Other than for insufficient evidence, any dismissal may be appealed by the Tribe or the victim to the Tribal Appeals Court.

(5) The Court shall not dismiss a criminal case involving domestic violence for the sole reason that a civil compromise or settlement is reached. Evidence of a civil compromise or settlement shall not be admissible in the criminal proceeding as evidence of consciousness of guilt or innocence, as an admission against interest or used to impeach a victim's testimony.

(6) No Judge or officer of the Court will issue or initiate any search warrant, pick-up order, summons, bench warrant or any notice of court proceedings specifying the domestic violence shelter/program as the individual's residence and/or location. The shelter or domestic violence program shall not be named as a party in any court action involving individual victims that may or may not be receiving advocacy services from the domestic violence shelter/program.