A Norman man charged with first degree murder in the 2014 stabbing death of his wife has been acquitted of the crime after a Cleveland County judge found him not guilty by reason of insanity.
At approximately 3:35 a.m. on April 19, 2014, Abid Sandhu called 9-1-1 to report that he had "killed someone" and needed police. When police arrived at Sandhu's home, they found his wife, Sidra Sandhu, dead of multiple stab wounds. Police said that Sandhu made incriminating statements, and they arrested him and took him to the Cleveland County Jail, where he was held without bond on a first degree murder complaint.
At the time of his arrest, Sandhu told police that he had been arguing with his wife and he "lost it," grabbing a kitchen knife and stabbing her repeatedly.
Eventually, Sandhu was found incompetent to stand trial, and his court record is filled with competency evaluations and orders to involuntarily medicate the defendant.
By January 2015, Sandhu was ordered to commitment in the Oklahoma Forensic Center, under the supervision of the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. However, at that time, the Center was at maximum occupancy and Sandhu was placed on a waiting list for transfer from the jail to the Oklahoma Forensic Center.
By June 2016, the man's defense attorney filed notice of intent to raise questions of mental illness or insanity at the time of the offense.
Both defense witnesses and prosecution witnesses who evaluated Sandhu's mental competency determined that at the time he killed his wife, Abid Sandhu was incapable of forming criminal intent.
Cleveland County District District Judge Thad Balkman presided over a bench trial, or a non-jury trial, in which doctors for both the prosecution and defense asserted in written documents that Sandhu was legally insane. No witnesses were called during the trial. Judge Balkman noted that both the prosecution and the defense were in agreement about the defendant's mental state, and he declared the man not guilty by reason of insanity. The judge ordered Sandhu to commitment at the Oklahoma Forensic Center in Vinita.
Although he has been acquitted of murder, the man cannot be released from the Oklahoma Forensic Center unless doctors determine that he has regained competency and he is no longer a threat to others. If that should happen, further court proceedings would be required to determine whether or not he was truly no longer a threat and could be released from custody of the state mental hospital.
Some people are advocating a change from finding defendants "not guilty by reason of insanity" to "guilty but insane." If a person is found not guilty by reason of insanity, he or she is committed to the state mental hospital and is allowed to be released if and when he or she has competency restored and is determined to no longer be a threat to others. If a person is found guilty but insane, he or she is likewise committed to the state mental hospital for treatment, but if and when competency is restored, he or she is transferred to prison to serve out the remainder of the sentence.
Image credit: Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
The suspect in last month's fatal shooting of Tecumseh police officer Justin Terney, 22, has been released from the hospital and is now held in the Pottawatomie County Jail.
Late last month, Officer Terney pulled over a vehicle driven by Brooklyn Danielle Williams, 22. During the stop, the officer began questioning a passenger, Byron James Shepard, 35. Shepard reportedly gave Terney a false name before fleeing into the woods. The officer gave chase, deploying his taser in an effort to stop the fleeing man. The taser had no effect, however, and Shepard began shooting at the officer, striking him three times. Terney returned fire, shooting Shepard four times.
Terney died of his injuries the following day at OU Medical Center. Shepard recovered from his injuries and was released from the hospital last week and booked into the Pottawatomie County Jail. He is charged with one count of first degree murder and faces life in prison without parole if convicted of the murder of Officer Terney.
As for the driver in the incident, she was arrested on a complaint of harboring a fugitive and booked into the Pottawatomie County Jail shortly after the shooting. She was released on $75,000 bond.
Under Oklahoma state law, harboring a fugitive is a felony punishable by a maximum of 10 years in prison: "Any person who shall knowingly feed, lodge, clothe, arm, equip in whole or in part, harbor, aid, assist or conceal in any manner any person guilty of any felony, or outlaw, or fugitive from justice, or any person seeking to escape arrest for any felony committed within this state or any other state or territory, shall be guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections for a period not exceeding ten (10) years."
Shepard has an extensive criminal history with arrests and charges for crimes including kidnapping, domestic abuse, drug possession, feloniously pointing a weapon, transporting a loaded firearm, grand larceny, disposing of stolen property, bogus check, omission to care for a child, and assault with a dangerous weapon.
At the time of the shooting and his arrest, he was serving a 4-year suspended sentence for omitting to care for a child. His probation was to run until 2020.
Canadian County Sheriff's Office investigators made an arrest this week in a child pornography investigation that began last month. While child porn arrests are not unusual for the local Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force, they say that this particular case is a first for them in that both a husband and wife were arrested.
Undercover investigators received images of child pornography on a computer used to investigate the distribution of child porn. They tracked the originating IP address to a home in Oklahoma City.
After obtaining and executing a search warrant at the home, investigators seized cell phones, tablets, and laptops. They say their search revealed hundreds of images and videos of child pornography as well "an extensive collection of bestiality videos"--some of which also involved children.
Investigators arrested both Benjamin Webb, 33, and his wife Tiffany Webb, 34, on complaints of aggravated possession of child pornography and violation of the Oklahoma Computer Crimes Act.
Aggravated possession of child pornography is defined, prohibited, and penalized according to 21 O.S. § 1040.12a:
Any person who, with knowledge of its contents, possesses one hundred (100) or more separate materials depicting child pornography shall be, upon conviction, guilty of aggravated possession of child pornography. The violator shall be punished by imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections for a term not exceeding life imprisonment and by a fine in an amount not more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00). The violator, upon conviction, shall be required to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offenders Registration Act.
Under this law, multiple copies of an identical image are each counted as a separate item. As noted in the statute, the maximum penalty for conviction of aggravated possession of child pornography is life in prison.
Under the Oklahoma Computer Crimes Act, it is illegal to use a computer or network to facilitate any state crime. Violation of the Oklahoma Computer Crimes Act is a separate and additional charge to the underlying crime. Each count is punishable by a maximum of 5 years in prison in addition to the sentence for the primary crime.
In late January, a student at a Tennessee high school reported to school officials that he or she had seen a teacher kissing a student. By February 8, the teacher, Tad Cummins, 50, was suspended while authorities investigated the report. Neither the teacher nor the student, Elizabeth Thomas, 15, admitted to any inappropriate contact.
However, by March 13, both the teacher and the girl were missing, prompting an Amber Alert that has since spanned three weeks. Cummins was fired the day after the two disappeared, and Cummins's wife has since filed for divorce.
Now investigators say the pair has at least passed through Oklahoma City as they fled Tennessee.
Investigators with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) say they have positively identified Cummins and Thomas on surveillance video from an Oklahoma City Walmart located at 100 E I-240 Service Road. The pair was spotted on March 15, two days after they went missing from Columbia, Tennessee, about 60 miles south of Nashville.
Each of the two had altered his or her appearance, with Cummins darkening his hair and Thomas dying hers red.
Oklahoma City police say that the TBI has not requested local assistance in investigating the abduction, and it is not known whether the two were believed to be staying in the area or just passing through.
Meanwhile, police in Kearney, Nebraska, about a 7 hour drive from Oklahoma City, reported that Cummins and Thomas were spotted at a McDonald's there at about 6:10 p.m. Sunday evening. They reported that the pair were driving a black pickup truck, although they noted that the two could still be in the silver Nissan Rogue indicated in the Amber Alert. This morning, the TBI confirmed that the man and teen girl seen in the McDonald's surveillance video were not, in fact, the Tad Cummins and Elizabeth Thomas.
Amber Alerts are still active for Thomas in Tennessee and Alabama. AL.com reports that TBI agents have received some 1,300 tips, and that 300 of those leads are still being investigated today.
Whether or not the 15-year-old left willingly with her teacher, it is against the law for anyone to transport a child across state lines or take a child from his or her parents or guardian without permission. Tad Cummins is charged with aggravated kidnapping and sexual contact with a minor.
Cummins is believed to be armed and driving a silver Nissan Rogue with Tennessee license plate 976-ZPT. View the details of the Tennessee Amber Alert here.
Oklahoma has some of the toughest drug laws in the nation, with harsh penalties even for marijuana possession. However, the state may be one step closer to allowing medical marijuana after an Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling that could allow voters to decide the issue in November 2018.
In 2016, the group Oklahomans for Health attempted to put the issue of medical marijuana before state voters with SQ 788. However, the group says that then-Attorney General Scott Pruitt (now the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) re-wrote the ballot title to suit his own agenda, and that his revision misled voters.
Oklahomans for Health, along with the American Civil Liberties Union, filed a lawsuit, saying Pruitt's revision was an attempt to mislead voters into thinking that voting for the issue would mean voting to legalize recreational marijuana, rather than medical marijuana.
Ryan Kiesel, Executive Director for the ACLU of Oklahoma, said of the issue, "Whether it's the folks that signed this initiative petition or all of the voters who will ultimately have the chance to weigh in on whether or not Oklahoma will have medical marijuana, they should be able to do that without the attorney general injecting his personal political position into the ballot campaign by misrepresenting what the petitioners seek to accomplish."
On Monday, the Oklahoma Supreme Court sided with Oklahomans for Health and ordered that Pruitt's revision be stricken and the original language of the ballot title restored. Only one justice disagreed; a second, newly-appointed Justice Patrick Wyrick, recused himself. You may recall that Wyrick was working for Pruitt's office at the time of the ballot title re-write.
Reports say the measure will likely appear on the November 2018 ballot, but that Governor Mary Fallin could set a date for a special election prior to that.
Of course, putting an issue before voters does not mean that it will, in fact, pass. While many see the medicinal benefits of marijuana, others continue the notion of marijuana as an illegal drug with no legitimate purpose. However, with the Court's ruling, Oklahoma voters should have the opportunity to make an informed decision about whether or not to allow medical marijuana in the Sooner State.
With Oklahoma jails and prisons overcrowded at crisis rates, with the state having one of the highest incarceration rates in the nation, with numerous federal lawsuits against the Oklahoma County Jail and the Tulsa County Jail, and with national policy institutes criticizing Oklahoma for "overcriminalizing" its citizens, there is no question that criminal justice reform needs to be a priority for state lawmakers. We are putting too many people behind bars, and we are not funding the resources that would help keep nonviolent offenders out of jail and treat the root cause of the behavior--often drug addiction or mental illness.
But perhaps things will start looking up for criminal justice in Oklahoma. Last week, the House passed three criminal justice reform bills that would reduce penalties for certain crimes, provide resources for defendants with mental illness or substance abuse issues, and allow earlier parole for those convicted of non-violent crimes.
House Bill 2281 amends laws pertaining to forgery, larceny, and other property crimes in order to introduce or modify a graduated penalty scale based on the value of the property involved. For example, existing law says that issuing bogus checks totaling $1,000 or more by a maximum of 10 years in prison. If passed by the Senate and signed into law, the bill would increase the threshold to $2,000 and make that act punishable by a maximum of 2 years in prison, with the length of term extending in proportion with higher values of theft.
House Bill 2284 would provide increased training for public defenders in representing defendants with substance abuse and/or mental health issued. It would also provide training for judges and prosecutors in dealing with victims of domestic violence or other trauma. One problem with this bill is that training is contingent on "available funding," and we know how little funding is available for anything in light of Oklahoma's ongoing budget failures.
Finally, House Bill 2286 would allow for earlier parole of people convicted of nonviolent crimes. Currently, nonviolent inmates may apply for parole after completing one-third of their sentences. Under the new law, they would only have to complete one-fourth of the sentence before applying for parole. The bill would also require better mental health and substance abuse treatment standards and additional training for Pardon and Parole Board members.
While these measures have all passed the House, they must now go to the Senate for consideration. The Senate recently passed eight criminal justice reform bills, which will move to the House for consideration. It could be a good year for justice reform in Oklahoma.
A report this year by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics found that Oklahoma has the deadliest prisons in the nation. With two inmate deaths this week, it seems like the state is on course to continue that trend.
On Wednesday, a 52-year-old inmate at the North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre was found in his cell, unresponsive with stab wounds. Authorities transported Stephen Maxwell, the injured inmate, to an Elk City hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Officials have ruled his death a homicide. At the time of his death, Maxwell was serving a 200-year sentence for a 1996 conviction for lewd molestation in Rogers County.
The same day, prison officials at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester found a death row inmate unresponsive during a routine check of his cell. Prison medical staff attempted lifesaving measures on inmate Jared Williams Jones, 37, but their efforts were unproductive. Jones was declared dead at roughly 10:00 a.m. Wednesday. Jones was sentenced to death after a 2003 shooting spree inside an Oklahoma City home that killed three people and left two others injured. He was convicted of three counts of first degree murder and two counts of shooting with intent to kill. Jones claimed the shooting was in self-defense after he was "trapped inside the house with a crazed mob of methamphetamine users." His case was under appeal after a judge upheld his conviction but ordered re-sentencing, finding that a judge had withheld evidence from the jury. Jones's death is under investigation.
As for the report that called Oklahoma prison the nation's deadliest, the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that from 2001 to 2014, Oklahoma had the nation's second-highest prison homicide rate, with more than double the national average. Oklahoma, with a rate of 13 killings per 100,000 state and federal inmates, was second only to Maine, a state with a rate of 14 killings per 100,000 inmates. Still, experts cautioned that Maine's prison population resulted in a sample size too small to be reliable.
The state also had the second highest accidental death rate, again coming in second only to a state with a small, unreliable sample size.
Oklahoma's overall prison mortality rate, including all prison deaths--natural, accidental, and intentional homicide--was 324 per 100,000 inmates, tying with Mississippi for sixth highest in the nation. While prison officials blame poor health and an aging inmate population for the high mortality rate, it does not go unnoticed that Oklahoma ranks higher in prison murder and accidental death rates than in overall prison mortality rate. This report lends further support to the notion that Oklahoma prisons are overcrowded, understaffed, and underfunded.
Edmond police are looking for a man they say exposed himself to several children last week.
Police say the children were playing Thursday in the Homestead addition near Danforth Road and Santa Fe Avenue when a man exposed himself to them. Witnesses say the man called the group of children over to him, and when they approached, they discovered he was engaged in "lewd activity."
The suspect is described as a black male, approximately 40 years old, with a grey goatee. He was reportedly last seen driving a silver or white Lincoln Town Car with front end damage (photo provided by the Edmond Police Department). Police are asking anyone who sees the vehicle to call 9-1-1.
Police are using the incident as a reminder to children to run away from dangerous situations. Edmond Police Sgt. James Hamm says,
"Sometimes these events can escalate. Best thing [children] can do is run away. Find an adult in a public area."
Indecent exposure is a felony sex crime punishable by a maximum of 10 years in prison and sex offender registration for a period of 15 years:
Every person who willfully and knowingly . . . [l]ewdly exposes his or her person or genitals in any public place, or in any place where there are present other persons to be offended or annoyed thereby . . .shall be guilty, upon conviction, of a felony and shall be punished by the imposition of a fine of not less than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) nor more than Twenty Thousand Dollars ($20,000.00) or by imprisonment for not less than thirty (30) days nor more than ten (10) years, or by both such fine and imprisonment. (21 O.S. § 1021)
However, that statute does not apply when the exposure is to a minor under the age of 16. Instead of being charged with indecent exposure, a person who exposes his or her genitals to children is charged with a much more serious offense: lewd or indecent proposals or acts to a child under 16.
Under 21 O.S. § 1123, the following acts are considered to be lewd acts or indecent proposals to a minor:
The penalties for lewd acts with a minor depend upon the age(s) of the child(ren) involved. If the child is aged 12 or older, the act is punishable by a maximum of 20 years in prison. If the child is under the age of 12, the penalty is 25 years to life in prison. In either case, it is considered a Level 3 Sex Offense mandating lifetime sex offender registration for anyone convicted of this crime.
A former Tulsa County sheriff's deputy accused last summer of raping an 11-year-old girl faces new charges of possession of child pornography.
Josh Wood, 33, resigned from the Tulsa County Sheriff's Department in January 2016 after having been placed on administrative leave during an internal affairs investigation two months before.
He was no longer a deputy last June when an 11-year-old girl reported that Wood raped and sexually assaulted her when he was transporting her from his house, where she had been playing with friends, to her home to pick up clothes for a sleepover.
The girl said that as Wood drove her to her house, he asked her if she knew about sex. The girl told authorities that when she told him she did not, he sexually assaulted her in order to "teach" her about it. She says she told him multiple times to stop.
Reports say the girl accused Wood of exposing himself to her again on the way back to his house, and that he again sexually assaulted her. She says he told her no one would see because of the vehicle's tinted windows and that what had happened in the vehicle was "our little secret."
Wood was arrested last July and booked into the Wagoner County Jail, but released the next day on $100,000 bond.
Now, detectives say that they have uncovered more than 200 images of child pornography during their investigation into the allegations against the former deputy.
A judge issued a warrant for Wood's arrest on two counts of aggravated possession of child pornography. He turned himself in to authorities yesterday, and was released on $50,000 bond.
Wood was originally charged with first degree rape, but that count has been amended to child sexual abuse. According to 21 O.S. § 843.5, the sexual abuse of a child under 12 is a felony punishable by 25 years to life in prison.
Aggravated possession of child pornography refers to the possession of 100 or more sexually explicit images of minors under the age of 18, whether that is 100 separate images or multiple copies of the same image. Aggravated possession of child pornography is a felony sex crime punishable by a maximum of life in prison.
Anyone charged with a crime is to be considered innocent unless proven guilty, and an allegation of a crime is not an indicator of guilt. If you or someone you love is facing arrest and criminal charges, contact an attorney at once. Call Coventon Criminal Defense at (405) 417-4832.
There are a lot of ways to win a criminal case--and there are a lot more ways to lose them. When an attorney tells you not to talk to anyone about your case, you had better believe he or she means it. Unfortunately, many defendants fail to understand that their online activities are not invisible, and they often feel a false sense of privacy when posting on Facebook or Instagram. Others do not realize that their appearance in the courtroom can create an impression that won't do them any favors.
A recent Brain Jet article looked at several ways lawsuit plaintiffs and criminal defendants wrecked their own cases by running their mouths, posting on Facebook, and more. Here are some of the top ways criminal defendants messed up, according the article entitled "Lawyers Reveal the Most Idiotic Thing Their Client Has Done that Screwed Them Over":
When charged with a crime, it is critical to get legal counsel and representation. But the best lawyer in the world can't help you if you don't listen to his or her advice, and if you put aside common sense. Don't be like the defendants mentioned above. Instead, find an attorney who will fight for you, and listen to your lawyer's advice in handling your case.
