A Del City Man is dead after police say the intoxicated man tried to enter the wrong home and was shot and killed by the homeowner.
Reports say Gary Dewayne Hooks, 36, was intoxicated Saturday night after having attended a funeral earlier in the day. Hooks and his wife went to a friend's house, but his wife reportedly told him to stay in the car and sober up. Instead, after his wife went into their friend's home, Hooks left the vehicle and wandered to another home.
When the homeowner opened the door, he reported that Hooks became aggressive. A neighbor says the homeowner, in fear for his safety, retrieved a gun and told the man, "I have a gun. Safety’s on but if you don’t go out the door, safety won’t be on."
The homeowner said that the stranger at his home was behaving aggressively, and he fired in self-defense. Hooks died of his injuries at a local hospital.
Police did not arrest the homeowner, saying the shooting appears to be in self-defense. They will present their report to the District Attorney, who ultimately decides whether or not charges will be filed in the fatal shooting.
Oklahoma has fairly permissive gun laws, and the state supports both the Castle Doctrine and Stand Your Ground laws.
The Castle Doctrine is based on the belief that a "man's home is his castle," and thus, citizens have the right to feel safe in their own homes. According to 21 O.S. 1289.25 of the Oklahoma Statutes:
A. The Legislature hereby recognizes that the citizens of the State of Oklahoma have a right to expect absolute safety within their own homes or places of business.
B. A person or an owner, manager or employee of a business is presumed to have held a reasonable fear of imminent peril of death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another when using defensive force that is intended or likely to cause death or great bodily harm to another if:
1. The person against whom the defensive force was used was in the process of unlawfully and forcefully entering, or had unlawfully and forcibly entered, a dwelling, residence, occupied vehicle, or a place of business, or if that person had removed or was attempting to remove another against the will of that person from the dwelling, residence, occupied vehicle, or place of business; and
2. The person who uses defensive force knew or had reason to believe that an unlawful and forcible entry or unlawful and forcible act was occurring or had occurred. . . .
The law goes a step further in subsection D, where it allows a person to use lethal force in self-defense outside one's home:
D. A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force, if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.
Use of force must be commensurate to the perceived threat, and lethal force may only be used in protecting one's personal safety rather than in protecting property itself. Furthermore, once the threat has been neutralized--an intruder attempting to flee, for example--the use of deadly force in self-defense is no longer appropriate.
Image credit: Paretz Partensky
Something tells me he didn't think this through clearly.
Oklahoma City police trying to identify a robbery suspect in a convenience store robbery ended up arresting the suspect at the Oklahoma County Courthouse after he attempted to rob the snack bar.
The day before the arrest, police received a robbery call from a gas station on North Pennsylvania Avenue. When they arrived, a store clerk told them that a man had robbed a box of cigarettes from the store. During an altercation with the clerk, the robber threatened to shoot him.
Detectives were able to use surveillance video and a partial tag number to identify a potential suspect. The soon discovered that the man, identified as Robert Lee Bruner, 51, was expected to appear at the Oklahoma County Courthouse the following day on a charge of larceny from a retailer last October.
The detectives went to the courthouse to find Bruner to see if they could tail him to a vehicle matching the description of the vehicle used in the gas station robbery. They say Bruner showed up at court, but left before his case could be heard, leading to a bench warrant for his arrest on failure to appear.
Although the suspect was not in court when he was supposed to be, he had not yet left the courthouse. Instead, he went to a snack bar as detectives waited to follow him out of the building.
While detectives waited, they heard a commotion inside the courthouse snack bar and turned a corner to find their suspect rushing from the snack bar with a "large amount of cash" in his hand. A snack bar employee told police that the man had ordered a breakfast sandwich. As she turned to make his meal, the man went into the snack bar office and began taking money from a safe.
Officers and a nearby attorney apprehended Bruner, who was arrested and booked into the Oklahoma County Jail, where he is held without bond on two complaints of second degree robbery.
Bruner is no stranger to the criminal justice system. His court record dates back to 1986 and includes several theft convictions as well as charges of domestic violence, drug trafficking, and possession of contraband in a penal institution.
These latest charges could land the suspect back in prison for quite some time. Each count of second degree robbery carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Image credit: Oklahoma County Clerk
A Tulsa mother called police yesterday to report that her live-in nanny was passed out inside the home and that her three-year-old child was missing.
The mother says she became concerned when she received a phone call saying that her other children had not been picked up from school. When she arrived home, she found the garage door open and the interior garage door standing open. The mother entered the home and discovered nanny Raela Baxter, 27, passed out on a bed inside the home, lying next to a smoking pipe. She was unable to locate her 3-year-old son, but police discovered the child sleeping on the fireplace hearth.
Investigators say that Baxter used the pipe to smoke meth at some point during the day, after which she passed out. Police are not sure how long the preschooler was left unsupervised.
Tulsa police arrested the nanny on complaints of meth possession, possession of drug paraphernalia, and child neglect. She is held in the Tulsa County Jail on $50,000 bond.
Possession of methamphetamine, even as a first offense, is a serious charge. While Oklahoma voters passed SQ 780, which will make drug possession a misdemeanor on the first offense, that law will not take effect until July 2017. Currently, possession of Schedule I or II drugs (except marijuana) is a felony punishable by 2-10 years in prison. It should also be noted that the Oklahoma legislature is currently considering a couple of measures that would effectively undo parts of the law voted on by the people last November (see SB 512 and SB 256).
Child neglect, on the other hand, is an even more serious offense. According to 21 O.S. § 843.5, child neglect is a felony punishable by a maximum of life in prison.
Neglect is defined in the Oklahoma Children's Code as follows:
a. the failure or omission to provide any of the following:
(1) adequate nurturance and affection, food, clothing, shelter, sanitation, hygiene, or appropriate education,
(2) medical, dental, or behavioral health care,
(3) supervision or appropriate caretakers, or
(4) special care made necessary by the physical or mental condition of the child,
b. the failure or omission to protect a child from exposure to any of the following:
(1) the use, possession, sale, or manufacture of illegal drugs,
(2) illegal activities, or
(3) sexual acts or materials that are not age- appropriate, or
c. abandonment.
Smoking meth and passing out while one is supposed to be caring for a child would be considered neglect both from the child's exposure to drug possession and use and from the denial of adequate and appropriate supervision.
Read more about Oklahoma child abuse and neglect laws.
To speak with a criminal defense attorney about your drug charges or other criminal case, call (405) 417-3842.
Image credit: DEA.gov
Police in Boulder, Colorado, became involved in a missing person and child abduction case last week after co-workers of Ashley Mead, 25, called to request a welfare check when the woman failed to show up at work.
That call led investigators to determine that Mead was missing, and that her one-year-old daughter had been taken by the girl's father, Adam Densmore, 32.
Police believe Densmore left Boulder last Sunday night and began driving across the country, with stops in Raton, New Mexico, the Texas panhandle, and Haughton, Louisiana. They say he drove from Louisiana to Conway, Arkansas on Tuesday before continuing into Oklahoma on Wednesday. Densmore stopped in Okmulgee before he was arrested Wednesday in Pawnee County, west of Tulsa. The missing child, Winter Daisy Mead, was found with her father and was taken into the custody of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services.
As for the missing woman, police believe that remains discovered at a Murphy USA gas station in Okmulgee belong to Mead.
According to reports, the torso of a white female was found in a trash bin at the gas station, and while a positive identification is pending the results of the medical examiner's investigation, police have tentatively identified the body as Mead "based on observations made during the examination."
Investigators say they believe the young woman was killed in Boulder and her body dismembered at some point along Densmore's journey--possibly in Shreveport, Louisiana. They say other remains are likely in a purple suitcase deposited somewhere along Densmore's route, and they encourage anyone who sees a suitcase in an "odd location" to avoid touching it and to contact authorities. They believe the rest of her remains have been scattered across the six states through which Densmore traveled after Mead's disappearance Sunday.
Investigators say that Mead and Densmore had an "on-again, off-again" relationship, but that there was no reported history of domestic violence between the two.
The suspect is held on suspicion of first degree murder in the Okmulgee County Jail until he can be returned to Boulder to face charges.
Image credit: Keith Allison
A Choctaw High School teacher accused last year of having a sexual relationship with a student has pleaded guilty.
Austin Quinton, 25, of Oklahoma City, was a teacher and assistant wrestling coach at Choctaw High School during the 2015-2016 school year. Prosecutors say that shortly after Quinton began working for the school district in August 2015, he began a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl in his class. They say the relationship continued until December 2015, and by the end of January 2016, Quinton had been arrested for sex crimes and he resigned from his teaching position.
Police say the teacher and the student had sex on at least four occasions, including twice in his truck at a church parking lot, once at his home, and once at the girl's home. He was also accused of soliciting nude photos of the girl, and at least one photo was reportedly discovered on his phone after his arrest.
Quinton was charged with four counts of second degree rape and one count of procuring the participation of a minor under the age of 18 in photographs depicting sexual activity. On Friday, as part of a negotiated plea, the former teacher pleaded guilty to all five counts.
As part of his plea agreement, Quinton was sentenced to one year in jail. Upon release, he will be ordered to register as a sex offender for life.
In Oklahoma, the age of consent to sexual intercourse under ordinary circumstances is 16 years. However, state law prohibits sexual contact between a teacher or school employee and anyone under the age of 20 who is a student in the same district or school system. In other words, had Quinton not been a teacher--or even if he had been a teacher in a district other than Choctaw-Nicoma Park Schools--there would likely have been nothing illegal about a sexual relationship between the 24-year-old and the 17-year-old.* However, because the law forbids sexual relationships between students and teachers or other individuals in a supervisory/custodial relationship, seemingly consensual sex becomes second degree rape--a felony sex crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison. As a Level 3 sex offense, a second degree rape conviction mandates lifetime sex offender registration.
*Note: while a sexual relationship is not legally forbidden between a person aged 16 or older and an adult over the age of 18, one must remember that sexually explicit images of a minor under 18 are forbidden as child pornography under both state and federal law. While the sex act may be legal, the visual documentation of nudity or sexual activity involving a minor under 18 is against the law.
Quinton is the second Choctaw High School teacher to be accused of sex with a student in 2015. In April 2015, Kristen Betz, then 43, was accused of having sex with a 17-year-old student. By December 2015, prosecutors dropped the case when the student, who had since turned 18, denied that the relationship took place, even though he initially told police that he had a sexual relationship with the teacher. Oklahoma County First Assistant District Attorney Scott Rowland said of the case that it appears the relationship between Betz and the student continued after charges were filed, and he believes that is why the teen's story changed.
Image credit: Choctaw-Nicoma Park Schools
A substitute teacher in a Pawhuska high school choir classroom was arrested last week after reportedly exposing herself while performing a cartwheel in front of students.
A student captured a cell phone video purportedly showing Lacey Sponsler, 34, doing a cartwheel in the choir room. Sponsler was wearing a skirt, and she was reportedly not wearing underwear.
Witnesses say the substitute teacher told the students she wasn't wearing underwear before completing the cartwheel and told them to destroy the video after she completed the flip.
Instead, the video began spreading on Snapchat. When school officials became aware of the alleged incident, the district severed the woman's employment, and police arrested her on a complaint of indecent exposure.
Under Oklahoma law, indecent exposure is a felony sex crime. According to 21 O.S. § 1021, "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 . . . 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."
Indecent exposure is a Level 1 sex crime. If convicted, the defendant would have to register as an Oklahoma sex offender for 15 years after the completion of her sentence.
A felony conviction would prevent the woman from ever working as a substitute teacher again--or at least, it should. Substitute teachers in Oklahoma are required to pass a background check, and a felony conviction automatically disqualifies someone as a candidate. Under some circumstances, people with misdemeanor convictions could still be employed as a sub.
After Sponsler's arrest, it was determined that the woman had a criminal record, including a felony drug possession charge. She received a deferred sentence in that case.
Some have questioned the vetting process, since someone with a felony on her record was not disqualified from substitute teaching. However, the woman was not technically convicted of the felony charge. Rather, she received a deferred sentence. If she successfully completed probation, then the charge would be dismissed under a Section 991c expungement.
Regardless, you can be pretty sure the Pawhuska school system will be taking a closer look at criminal backgrounds for future hires.
Image credit: DAXKO
A Tulsa County jury has found a second man guilty of first degree murder in the shooting death of a 14-year-old girl during an attempted robbery.
On Friday, jurors deliberated for three hours before returning a guilty verdict in the case of Travis Murphy Lozada, 22. The jury convicted Lozada of first degree felony murder, attempted robbery with a firearm, and conspiracy. For murder and robbery, the jury recommended life sentences; for conspiracy, they requested the maximum 10-year sentence.
Lozada was one of three men charged after the fatal shooting of April Montano on May 29, 2014. The 14-year-old girl was a passenger in a pickup truck driven by her father when three men, identified as Lozada, David Ruble II, and Demonte Wayne Rushing, pulled up alongside the truck.
As the truck continued along, the occupants of Ruble's vehicle attempted to rob an ATV from a trailer towed by the pickup. Shots fired from Ruble's vehicle struck the girl in the back of the head, killing her.
In May, a Tulsa County jury convicted Ruble of first degree felony murder and conspiracy (his attempted robbery charge was dismissed at the request of the state). As in Lozada's case, the jury recommended a life sentence for murder and 10 years for conspiracy. In September, Tulsa County District Judge William LaFortune followed the jury's recommendation in sentencing Ruble to life plus 10 years. Ruble's sentences are ordered to run consecutively, meaning the man must complete his life sentence before serving the additional 10 years. Because felony murder is an 85 percent crime, he must serve more than 38 years before becoming eligible for parole.
Lozada is expected to be sentenced this week.
Rushing has not yet stood trial for his charges in connection with the girl's death.
In Oklahoma, there are several circumstances which make an act of homicide first degree murder. The most commonly known circumstance for a first degree murder charge is "malice aforethought," or premeditated murder--in other words, the defendant intended to wrongfully take the life of another person.
However, a person can still be charged with first degree murder even if he or she had no intent to take another's life. "Felony murder" occurs when someone dies during the commission of a specified felony:
A person also commits the crime of murder in the first degree, regardless of malice, when that person or any other person takes the life of a human being during, or if the death of a human being results from, the commission or attempted commission of murder of another person, shooting or discharge of a firearm or crossbow with intent to kill, intentional discharge of a firearm or other deadly weapon into any dwelling or building as provided in Section 1289.17A of this title, forcible rape, robbery with a dangerous weapon, kidnapping, escape from lawful custody, eluding an officer, first degree burglary, first degree arson, unlawful distributing or dispensing of controlled dangerous substances or synthetic controlled substances, trafficking in illegal drugs, or manufacturing or attempting to manufacture a controlled dangerous substance. 21 O.S. § 701.7 (B)
First degree murder is punishable by life in prison or life without parole. Oklahoma allows the death penalty for murder if one or more of several aggravating factors are met.
David Edward Bloebaum, 61, was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison following a road rage dispute along the Kilpatrick Turnpike that ended with the shooting death of another man in the Target parking lot.
In the case, witnesses saw Bloebaum and another man, Jasen Yousif, 29, driving aggressively on the turnpike in the afternoon of September 28, 2012. They say that it appeared that Bloebaum was chasing Yousif in a "high-speed chase" when Yousif exited the turnpike and drove to the parking lot of the SuperTarget at Penn and Memorial.
Yousif reportedly left his vehicle and approached Bloebaum's when the older man pulled a gun and shot Yousif from inside his vehicle. Bloebaum argued that he shot Yousif in self defense, saying the younger man was armed with a knife; however, prosecutors disagreed. They say the defendant was not in reasonable fear of imminent danger, and they noted that after shooting the other man in the chest twice, he shot him an additional three times in the back.
In October 2014, Bloebaum was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
He appealed, citing Oklahoma's "stand your ground" law and continuing to maintain that his use of lethal force was justified in defending himself against a man armed with a knife.
On Tuesday, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ruled against Bloebaum and upheld his conviction and sentence. The court disagreed that the appellant was justified in using lethal force, calling the trial court's ruling in denying Bloebaum's pre-trial application for immunity "well-reasoned."
Evidence seemed to refute the defendant's claims of self defense. For example, he claimed that Yousif reached into his car and tried to stab him with a knife, stabbing the car seat instead. However, there was no damage to the seat. Although a knife was found at the scene, witnesses could not corroborate whether or not the victim had been holding the knife; one said yes, another said no. Finally, the gunshot wounds were described as "distance wounds," and there was no blood spatter on or inside Bloebaum's vehicle, indicating that the victim was not in close proximity to the shooter, nor was he attempting to gain entrance to the vehicle at the time of the shooting.
The appeals court affirmed both the conviction and the associated life sentence.
Image credit: John Feinstein
A former Muskogee firefighter is charged with multiple felony sex crimes after a child pornography investigation.
Police began investigating Zackery Blaine Perry, 30, after a woman reported that he has shared child pornography with her and attempted to solicit child pornography from her. She told investigators that after sending her sexually explicit images of children, the man asked her if she would be willing to share nude photos of her 8-year-old daughter.
Police arrested Perry on January 5 on complaints of possession and distribution of child pornography. He resigned from the Muskogee Fire Department on January 11.
Now, he faces even more charges.
According to a probable cause affidavit, investigators have discovered nearly 1,400 images and videos of child pornography on his cell phone. Police say they have only finished about 25 percent of the forensic analysis of electronic devices confiscated in the investigation.
And that is not all. Investigators also say they found "photos, videos and texts discovered that the suspect Zack Perry had been involved in or facilitated the recordings of sexual acts between an adult female and a dog,” according to an affidavit.
Perry is charged in Muskogee County District Court with four felonies:
If convicted of the crimes of which he is accused, the defendant faces the possibility of several years in prison. A crime against nature is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Aggravated possession of child pornography, which is defined as the possession of 100 or more images of child pornography (whether separate images or multiple copies of the same image), is punishable by a maximum of 20 years in prison. Sexual exploitation of a child under 12 is punishable by 25 years to life in prison.
His next court date is set for February 2.
Image credit: Brandon Giesbrecht
A young woman who was critically injured in a fatal DUI accident on New Year's Eve has died two weeks after the crash.
Nhu Hong, 18, was a foreign exchange student in Oklahoma last year before moving to Washington state to attend college. Over the holidays, she returned to Oklahoma to visit her host family.
On New Year's Eve, Hong was a passenger in a vehicle driven by her host mother, Amanda Carson, 37. Carson's two daughters, ages 4 and 9, were also in the vehicle.
At around 11:00 p.m., a vehicle driven by Craig Maker, 30, smashed into the back of Carson's SUV on the Kilpatrick Turnpike in Canadian County. Carson and Hong were ejected from the vehicle. Carson died in the collision; Hong was transported to a local hospital in critical condition. Carson's youngest daughter was treated and released; the 9-year-old was hospitalized for several days before being released.
On Sunday, two weeks after the deadly collision, Hong succumbed to her injuries. Her family, who traveled from Vietnam to be with her, were at her side when she died.
Troopers say Maker was traveling at 116 miles per hour with his headlights off at the time of the crash. He reportedly admitted to troopers that he had "two glasses of whiskey" before the crash, and that it "would be his fifth DUI arrest."
In 2011, Maker had three misdemeanor DUI convictions: one municipal DUI in Oklahoma City, one in Oklahoma County, and one in Logan County. He followed up those three misdemeanors with a felony DUI conviction in Oklahoma County in 2015. Under his felony DUI, Maker should not have been driving any vehicle not equipped with Ignition Interlock.
As a result of the crash, Maker is charged with one count of second degree murder, two counts of causing an accident resulting in great bodily injury while under the influence of alcohol, and one count of DUI involving a personal injury accident. Now that another victim has died of her injuries, one of the "great bodily injury" charges will likely be upgraded to a second count of second degree murder.
Second degree murder is punishable by 10 years to life in prison.
Image credit: Patrick Fitzgerald
