Oklahoma court says Kickapoo Reservation was disestablished

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An appeals court in Oklahoma has ruled that the historic Kickapoo Reservation in central Oklahoma no longer exists. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals issued its decision Thursday in a case in which a citizen of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma was challenging his state conviction. Attorneys for Aaron Charles Buck argued the state lacked jurisdiction because he was an Indian and the crime occurred within the historic boundaries of the Kickapoo Nation. That area is just southeast of Oklahoma City near the town of McLoud in Pottawatomie County. But the court agreed with a trial court judge that the reservation was disestablished and returned to the United States in the form of land allotments and cash payments to tribal citizens.