An Oklahoma County jury convicted a reported gang member of second degree murder last week, finding him guilty of fatally shooting a 17-year-old girl after a New Year's Eve party last year.
Prosecutors accused Kaylin Nicholas Mixon, 21, of Edmond, of firing a gun toward a crowd of teenagers exiting a party in the early hours of January 1, 2016. The gunshots struck a teen girl in the crowd, and she died at the scene.
Reports say that the party erupted in violence shortly before the shooting, when a "gang-related song" played, and party-goers started flashing gang signs and fighting. Mixon, a Sunnyside Blood gang member, felt "disrespected," and as people began to leave the party, he fired up to three times into the crowd of about 100 people, striking and fatally injuring the girl.
During his trial, Mixon testified that he was not the shooter, saying he did not even have a gun with him that night. He said that he was in the parking lot of the party venue when he heard the gunfire and ran.
However, one of Mixon's friends told police that he was the shooter.
After deliberating last Wednesday, jurors returned a guilty verdict on the charge of second degree murder, recommending a sentence of 30 years in prison. Formal sentencing is scheduled for July 12, 2017.
Unlike first degree murder, second degree murder does not require premeditation or intent to kill. Oklahoma law defines second degree murder as a homicide occurring under one of the following conditions:
1. When perpetrated by an act imminently dangerous to another person and evincing a depraved mind, regardless of human life, although without any premeditated design to effect the death of any particular individual; or
2. When perpetrated by a person engaged in the commission of any felony other than the unlawful acts set out
in Section 1, subsection B, of this act. (Any death resulting in the commission of one of those specified felonies would be charged as first degree murder, punishable by life in prison or life without parole.)
Second degree murder is a violent felony punishable by 10 years to life in prison. It is an "85 Percent Crime" that requires anyone convicted to serve at least 85 percent of the sentence before becoming eligible for parole. In this case, a sentence of 30 years would mean the convicted man must serve more than 25 years in prison before obtaining the possibility of parole.
People are typically arrested one of two ways: either on the scene with probable cause for suspicion that the person committed a crime, or after a judge issues an arrest warrant authorizing the seizure and detention of a person after being presented sufficient evidence of probable cause. An example of the first instance is a driver pulled over for erratic driving and subsequently arrested for DUI. In the second instance, investigators may present their findings to the district attorney who files charges and requests an arrest warrant from the judge.
A judge can also issue a warrant for the arrest of a person who fails to appear in court when ordered to do so. This is called a "bench warrant." In the arrest warrant mentioned earlier, police will typically go directly to the person's home or business and place him or her under arrest immediately. This is not likely to happen with a bench warrant; however, if a person who is the subject of a bench warrant comes in police contact--often through a routine traffic stop--he or she will likely be arrested on the spot.
A person with a bench warrant may also be arrested during a "warrant sweep" or in a DUI checkpoint. In general, more people are arrested for outstanding warrants than for impaired driving in sobriety roadblocks.
If you have missed a court date, it is important that you contact your attorney at once to discuss the best way to handle your failure to appear and any bench warrant resulting from the missed appearance. By taking a proactive approach, you may be able to avoid arrest and have the warrant recalled.
To learn more about failure to appear and bench warrants, click here.
On April 17, 2016, David Stephen Blair II, of Midwest City, was driving his SUV northbound on I-35 in Edmond. Witnesses say Blair was driving aggressively, traveling at a high rate of speed, changing lanes unsafely, and even using the grass median to pass other vehicles. Soon Blair entered the grass median and crashed through a cable barrier, traveling about 200 feet along the median. His vehicle then veered left into the southbound lanes, striking a minivan.
The driver of the minivan and his 2-year-old daughter were killed in the collision. Blair and his passenger were transported to a local hospital, where the passenger later died.
Toxicology reports indicated that Blair had PCP, marijuana, and benzodiazepine in his bloodstream at the time of the crash. On August 30, 2016, he was charged with three counts of second degree murder in the crash; however, he disappeared from the hospital and was not taken into custody until police tracked down his whereabouts in December.
Now, Blair has entered a plea agreement with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to three counts of second degree murder. In his plea, the defendant admitted that he had PCP in his system and was driving "recklessly and too fast" for conditions at the time of the triple fatality DUI.
Oklahoma County District Judge Michele McElwee sentenced him to 30 years in prison in accordance with the plea agreement.
Second degree murder is defined in 21 O.S. § 701.8 as a death resulting under either of the following circumstances:
1. When perpetrated by an act imminently dangerous to another person and evincing a depraved mind, regardless of human life, although without any premeditated design to effect the death of any particular individual; or
2. When perpetrated by a person engaged in the commission of any felony other than the unlawful acts set out [as first degree felony murder].
Had the defendant taken his chances at trial or entered a blind plea, he would have faced 10 years to life in prison for each count of second degree murder.
Image credit: Josh Hallett
On April 6, Cecille Short, 82, was walking her little Papillon dog in her northwest Oklahoma City neighborhood when she was attacked by two at-large pit bulls. The attack was so violent that when police arrived, they were unable to approach the woman. They were forced to shoot one dog and run over the other with the patrol vehicle. By then, it was too late. The dogs had killed the woman just feet from her own home.
At the time of the attack, police were unable to contact the dogs' owner, who was reportedly out of town, working in Houston. Neighbors say that the dogs were frequently running loose in the neighborhood, and animal control confirmed that they had been called to the Willow Creek neighborhood on multiple occasions involving the two dogs responsible for Short's death.
Police investigating the home where the dogs lived reportedly found a large hole in the fence that had been blocked by "old wood, a recycling container and an ice chest" in an effort to keep the dogs from getting out.
Now, police have been in contact with the dogs' owner, and the Oklahoma County District Attorney's Office has filed a charge of second degree manslaughter. Antwon Burks, 31, returned from Houston to turn himself in to authorities. He was booked into the Oklahoma County Jail and released on $10,000 bond.
Prosecutors say Burks knew or should have known the dogs' propensity to escape and their potential for violence, yet still allowed the dogs to roam at large or failed to take ordinary measures to confine them. They say that the hole in the fence appeared to be old, which would have given Burks time for repair, and that the measures he took to block the hole were far insufficient for two dogs of that size. Despite knowing this, Burks left town without taking adequate measure to secure his dogs.
Oklahoma law says in 21 O.S. § 717, "If the owner of a mischievous animal, knowing its propensities, wilfully suffers it to go at large, or keeps it without ordinary care, and such animal, while so at large or not confined, kills any human being who has taken all the precautions which the circumstances permitted, to avoid such animal, the owner is deemed guilty of manslaughter in the second degree."
Second degree manslaughter is punishable 2 to 4 years in prison.
The fallout from the sex abuse scandal at an elementary school in Perry, Oklahoma, continues with the resignation of former superintendent Scott Chenoweth.
Chenoweth was suspended with pay after an investigation led to criminal charges against at teacher's aide accused of molesting several girls and a teacher and principal accused of failing to report sexual abuse. Chenoweth has not been charged with any crime, but as the leadership of the school district, he was suspended with pay, continuing to draw his salary of $8,800 per month. Meanwhile, the school district was also paying an interim superintendent at the same rate.
Last week, the board reached an agreement with Chenoweth, accepting his resignation and paying him $76,042 to step down. Additionally, the district will pay for Chenoweth's legal defense should he face charges as a result of the investigation. A representative from Candor, an Oklahoma City public relations firm hired by the school district, said that the resignation agreement stipulates that neither Chenoweth nor the school board will issue a statement regarding the resignation.
Five other teachers and school district employees also resigned that night. While many cited personal reasons unrelated to the sex abuse scandal, at least one cited a "lack of leadership" in the district and said that "the community has been fouled."
At least 10 girls testified at a preliminary hearing that Arnold Cowen, 86, fondled them and touched them inappropriately while at school. However, an investigation has led police to determine that there are now 24 alleged victims rather than the 10 originally thought.
A judge ruled that there is sufficient evidence to bind Cowen over for trial on 20 counts of lewd or indecent acts to a child under 16 and one count of aggravated possession of child pornography.
A math teacher and a principal have also been charged in connection with the case. Prosecutors say Cowen worked in the classroom of Jeffrey Sullins, and that when students complained of Cowen's inappropriate behavior, he called them liars and did not report their concerns. He is charged with two misdemeanor counts of failure to promptly report child abuse or neglect.
Principal Kendra Miller is also charged with failure to report child abuse. Prosecutors say that she was aware of the allegations against Cowen, but did not take them seriously. She did not report the allegations to authorities, and she continued to allow Cowen to work with children. In many cases, he worked as a substitute or a "cover" in classrooms while teachers attended personal business, leaving him unsupervised with the children.
Miller and Sullins resigned from Perry schools in March. Their teaching licenses have been suspended by the Oklahoma Department of Education.
The founder and CEO of beleaguered Tate Publishing and Enterprises have been arrested, accused of bilking their clients out of tens of thousands of dollars. Founder Richard Tate, 70, and his son, CEO Ryan Tate, 38, are each charged with eight criminal counts, including seven felonies and one misdemeanor. The publishers are charged with four felony counts of embezzlement, three felony counts of attempted extortion by threat, and one misdemeanor count of embezzlement.
Reports say Tate Publishing began falling on hard times in 2013. By 2015, the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Unit began investigating consumer complaints against Tate Publishing and affiliated Tate Music Group. Soon, printing services providers Xerox and Lightning Source sued Tate Publishing for millions of dollars, and ultimately won their cases this year after the publishers failed to respond to discovery requests.
In January 2017, Tate Publishing shuttered its doors after 20 years in business. This left clients who claimed they were owed thousands of dollars frustrated, understanding that they would likely never see their royalties or the books and albums they paid the companies to produce.
However, recently, the firm emailed some of its clients to say that it would be reopening soon. That prompted the Attorney General's Office to take quick action against the founder and CEO. Attorney General Mike Hunter said of the arrests, "[The email] had something to do with us approaching this in the expeditious manner that we did. We don't need any more victims. We are very focused on this. There now have been more than 800 complaints, and we are going to look into each one of them.”
Prosecutors say the Tates took money intended to publish books and produce albums, and instead deposited that money into personal accounts. One of the felony embezzlement charges is related to a contract in which a client paid $25,800 in 2016 to Tate Publishing in exchange for 10,000 copies of his books. The client never received any books, and investigators say they tracked the client's payments into the personal bank accounts of Richard and Ryan Tate and their wives.
The three extortion charges are the result of letters Tate Publishing reportedly sent to authors saying they must pay $50 to prevent the destruction of their manuscripts.
Prosecutors say that with 800 complaints against the firm, it is likely that the founder and CEO will face additional charges.
When the Canadian County Sheriff's Office arrested a man suspected of distributing child pornography to an undercover officer, they found more than they expected.
Investigators say the 19-year-old Clinton man, who lived with his parents, had installed hidden cameras in the bathrooms and showers of the home in order to capture explicit images of unsuspecting victims.
The Canadian County Sheriff's Office began investigating Domingo Isaac Hernandez after they say the man distributed child pornography to an undercover officer. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force members traced the images to a computer at Hernandez's parents' home.
Investigators serving a search warrant determined that Hernandez had wiped his computer in an attempt to conceal any crime; however, they say they were able to recover multiple thumb drives containing pornographic images of children.
During the search, they also found the hidden cameras installed in the bathrooms of the house. Canadian County Sheriff Chris West said the discovery was unexpected: “We knew before we ever got there we were about to take down a child pornographer, but were a little surprised to learn of his hidden camera network inside the house."
Investigators say they are in the process of interviewing alleged victims and seeking to identify every possible victim.
Hernandez was arrested after the search. He was booked into the Custer County Jail on complaints of aggravated possession of child pornography, manufacturing child pornography, lewd acts with a child under 16, and violation of the Oklahoma Computer Crimes Act.
Aggravated possession of child pornography refers to the possession of 100 or more sexually explicit images of children. Under the law, found in 21 O.S. § 1040.12a, the images may be either separate images or multiple copies of the same image. The maximum penalty for aggravated possession of child pornography is life in prison.
Manufacturing child pornography, under 21 O.S. § 1021.2, is punishable by a maximum of 20 years in prison.
Lewd acts with a child under 16 is punishable according to the age of the child. If the minor involved is aged 12 or older, the crime is punishable by 3 to 20 years in prison; however, if the child is under 12, the sentence is 20 years to life in prison (21 O.S. § 1123).
Under the Oklahoma Computer Crimes Act, it is a felony to use a computer or computer network to violate state law. This adds a potential 5-year sentence, separate from and additional to any sentence for the underlying crime.
Read more about child pornography laws in Oklahoma, or call 405-417-3842 to schedule a confidential, risk-free consultation with a defense attorney.
An Oklahoma woman was convicted last week for her role in the murder of her ex-husband in 2012.
Amber Andrews, 35, of Meeker, was convicted of first degree murder with deliberate intent, conspiracy to commit a felony and desecration of a human corpse in the death of Brandon Duran of San Diego, California.
Prosecutors say Duran had sole custody of the couple's children, and that became the motive for his murder. Andrews was accused of conspiring with her boyfriend, Justin Hammer, to kill Duran.
Hammer became a suspect in the murder after an employee told authorities that Hammer had asked him to help dispose of "bloody buckets."
In 2014, Hammer was convicted of murder after admitting to shooting Duran near Elmore City, dismembering his body, and disposing of it in cement-filled buckets. However, he insisted that he killed Duran in self-defense after Duran, a "violent member of an outlaw biker gang" kicked in his back door and threatened him. He said that his then-girlfriend, Amber Andrews, had nothing to do with the killing.
However, prosecutors say that Andrews helped Hammer plot her ex-husband's murder. They entered evidence showing that the woman was a part of the conspiracy, including a supply list written by the woman and purchased by Hammer to commit the murder and disposal of the corpse, and phone records and witness testimony tracing Andrews's path of travel on the day of the murder.
Prosecutors say Andrews called Duran under the guise of reconciliation, luring him to Hammer and to his death.
On Thursday, a Garvin County jury found Amber Andrews guilty of conspiracy, murder, and desecration of a corpse. They recommended the maximum sentence: life in prison without parole plus 17 years.
Garvin County District Judge Leah J. Edwards has scheduled formal sentencing for June 12.
Justin Hammer is serving life without parole in the Lawton Correctional Facility in Lawton, Oklahoma.
The man suspected of shooting and killing a Logan County sheriff's deputy has been arrested after a manhunt spanning several hours.
Yesterday morning, at approximately 9:00 a.m., Deputy David Wade, 40, attempted to serve an eviction notice at a home near Mulhall. Instead, Nathan Aaron Leforce, 45, of Perry, shot Deputy Wade in the face and body. Leforce was not even the subject of the eviction, but was instead at the home to "help" the residents.
After shooting Wade, Leforce fled in the deputy's pickup to a convenience store in nearby Langston, where he first attempted to break into a car, and then stole another car at gunpoint.
Wade, who was responsive after the shooting, was flown to OU Medical Center, where he went into cardiac arrest. Doctors stabilized the deputy enough to get him into surgery, but he died on the operating table shortly before noon.
Law enforcement agencies including the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, and the OSBI joined the hunt looking for Leforce. Tracking a cell phone, they discovered Leforce hiding in an outbuilding about 7 miles from Langston. Officers say the suspect surrendered "without incident," but they deployed four gas grenades before they stormed the building, according to reports.
No clear motive has been identified for the shooting--after all, Leforce isn't even the person who was being evicted, and Deputy Wade was merely serving the notice, not the one ordering the eviction. However, Leforce has a long criminal history including convictions for attempting to elude police and feloniously pointing a firearm at an officer.
In that incident, which occurred in 2001, Leforce was convicted after driving at a high rate in an attempt to provoke an officer to pursue him. When a chase began, Leforce drove to a cemetery, got out of his vehicle, and pointed a weapon at an officer. When he refused to comply with the officer's command to drop the gun, the officer shot a tire on Leforce's vehicle. The man then sped away, and the officer lost him.
Law enforcement later found the car abandoned at a farmhouse in Stillwater, and the AR-15 rifle discarded about a half-mile from there. They arrested Leforce walking down the side of the road.
In that case, law enforcement determined the incident was an attempt at "suicide by cop." He was given four years of probation.
Other cases were more minor: obstructing an officer in 2007 (one year in jail); bogus check (dismissed after he paid restitution); kidnapping, child endangerment, and domestic violence in 2015 (dismissed); and harboring a runaway and contributing to the delinquency of a minor (dismissed).
Only the 2001 case seems to foreshadow the violence that took place in Logan County yesterday. If convicted, Leforce faces the possibility of life in prison without parole.
Image credit: Logan County Sheriff's
Oklahoma's budget failure has tapped state resources across the board. Education is feeling the pinch, with some districts going to four day school weeks or contemplating ending the school year early. The Department of Human Services is forced to cut vital services for Oklahoma children and families. The Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services must deny people much needed treatment, forced instead to put people with serious mental illness on waiting lists. And of course, lack of resources in all of these areas typically spur a burgeoning inmate population. The state's jails and prisons continue to be overcrowded and understaffed, which leads to an extremely volatile and dangerous environment.
On Friday night, this inadequacy was illustrated through a fight at the North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre, Oklahoma. At approximately 7:30 p.m., two groups of inmates got in a verbal altercation that quickly erupted into physical violence. According to prison officials, inmates began using homemade weapons in the fight, leading to serious injury for seven inmates. Six of the inmates were transported to a hospital in Elk City, while the seventh was transported by flight to an Oklahoma City hospital.
Prison officials say staff was quickly able to get the situation under control and the prison on lockdown, but regardless of response time, they were unable to prevent the large-scale fight or the resulting injuries.
Oklahoma Department of Corrections Director Joe M. Allbaugh said of the prison fight, "This was a significant incident, and due to the quick actions of our staff the situation was quickly contained." However, he also noted the lack of resources available to the DOC as a catalyst for the incident:
"Our staff members do the best they can when it comes to properly securing our facilities. It's a difficult task we ask of them, because agency wide we have correctional officer staffing shortages. Our (correctional officer) positions don't pay enough to be competitive in the job market and with the current budget crisis we are experiencing the situation isn't going to get any better anytime soon when it comes to filling vacancies."
North Fork Correctional Facility is one of the private prisons operated under contract with the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. In the past, there have been notable concerns about the safety at private, "for-profit" prisons. This is certainly not the first incident at North Fork Correctional Facility.
In 2011, a prison riot at the facility injured 46 inmates, 16 of them seriously enough to require hospitalization. And in December 2016, a correctional officer was hurt attempting to break up a fight between inmates.
In September 2015, a two minute gang fight between the United Aryan Brotherhood and the Irish Mob at Cimarron Correctional Facility in Cushing resulted in the deaths of four inmates.
A federal study released by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics late last year indicated that Oklahoma's prisons are the most dangerous prisons in the nation. From 2001 to 2013, the state's prisons had a homicide rate of 13 per 100,000 inmates--more than double the national average, and their accidental death rate was 8 per 100,000 inmates--nearly triple the national average.
These figures shouldn't be surprising to anyone who knows that we combine one of the highest incarceration rates in the nation with the lowest paid correctional officers and the most understaffed prisons in the country.
