GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) — A federal appeals judge from North Dakota says he's supporting a campaign to get an American Indian woman from the state released from federal prison.

Judge Myron Bright sits on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He says the case of Dana Deegan shows the need to reform how federal courts treat Native Americans.

Deegan was convicted in federal court in 2007 of second-degree murder of her infant son on the Fort Berthold Reservation. The Grand Forks Herald reports she's serving a 10-year sentence.

Bright says Indians convicted of serious crimes on reservations often face harsher sentences than non-Indians get in state courts for the same crimes.

Bright on Monday urged people at a University of North Dakota forum to get involved in the effort to free Deegan.

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