A Seneca County judge today dismissed an indictment against the Cayuga Indian Nation and ordered his county to return some $375,000 worth of cigarettes seized in a 2008 tax raid at the Cayugas’ Seneca Falls store. Judge Dennis Bender ruled after a 10-minute hearing between the two sides, said Daniel French, a Syracuse lawyer who represents the Cayugas, said. “We’re...
A Seneca County judge today dismissed an indictment against the Cayuga Indian Nation and ordered his county to return some $375,000 worth of cigarettes seized in a 2008 tax raid at the Cayugas’ Seneca Falls store.
Judge Dennis Bender ruled after a 10-minute hearing between the two sides, said Daniel French, a Syracuse lawyer who represents the Cayugas, said.
“We’re pleasantly surprised,’’ French said in reaction to Bender giving his ruling immediately after the case was argued.
Bender’s decision sticks to a May 11 decision by the state Court of Appeals. In that 4-3 ruling, the state’s highest court said Cayuga and Seneca counties can not prosecute the Cayugas for selling tax-free cigarettes to non-Indians because their LakeSide Trading stores in Union Springs and Seneca Falls lie on qualified reservation land under state tax law. The court also sided with the nation because the state has no coupon method in place to collect taxes from Indian businesses.
Both counties plan to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn that decision.
Meanwhile, Seneca County Manager Suzanne Sinclair said she was disappointed in Bender’s ruling. Sinclair said she expects her county to return the cigarettes and other business records taken in the tax raid but said no decision will be made until the county receives a written copy of the judge’s order.
In the November 2008 tax raid, both counties seized about $575,000 worth of unstamped cigarettes and business computers at both stores. A short time later, grand juries in both counties returned unsealed indictments charging Cayuga leaders in the tax-evasion case. The indictments have never been opened.
The Cayugas now plan to sue both counties for $500,000 because the confiscated cigarettes are past their expiration date and can not be sold.
The criminal side of the case heads to Cayuga County on July 14 where the Cayugas will ask county Judge Mark Fandrich to dismiss the indictments in his county and to return the cigarettes and business computers seized from the nation’s Union Springs store.
“We would hope (Judge Fandrich) would similarly hold these indictments be dismissed,’’ French said.
You can reach Scott Rapp at srapp@syracuse.com or 289-4839