Oklahoma

Lawyer admits taking $100K in his law firm’s funds, gives up law license

An Arkansas lawyer has given up his law license in Arkansas and Oklahoma after acknowledging he converted more than $100,000 of law firm funds to his own use. Lawyer Michael Redd admits to taking the funds from Robertson, Beasley, Shipley & Redd, but says he has made restitution, report the…

May 10, 2016 9:19 AM CDT

Oral sex with intoxicated, unconscious person isn’t a crime, state high court rules

Oklahoma’s highest criminal appeals court has held the state’s forcible sodomy law doesn’t make it a crime to have oral sex with a victim who is so intoxicated as to be unconscious. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ruled on March 24 in a short, unpublished decision that is being…

Apr 28, 2016 7:16 AM CDT

Former lottery security chief and his brother, an ex-judge, charged with rigging payouts

A computer whiz installed software on random number-generating equipment while working as security director of the Iowa-based Multi-State Lottery Association that enabled him to rig games and direct a number of jackpots to his friends, authorities say. Already convicted last year of rigging a $16.5 million Iowa jackpot, Eddie Tipton…

Apr 7, 2016 2:40 PM CDT

Faced with declining bar pass rates, Oklahoma changes the exam grading

The Oklahoma Supreme Court has reacted to a decline in bar pass rates with a change in bar exam scoring. The change is an apparent effort to make bar passage easier, Above the Law reports. The article notes that pass rates in the state have dropped from 83 percent in…

Mar 9, 2016 7:21 AM CST

Federal appeals court partially blocks FCC rules cutting cost of prison phone calls

As a lawsuit continues seeking to overturn new Federal Communications Commission rules cutting the cost prisoners pay for phone calls, a federal appeals court has partially stayed the imposition of the new rules. The Hill provides a copy of the order (PDF) on Monday by the U.S. Court of Appeals…

Mar 7, 2016 4:50 PM CST

Oklahoma sheriff’s office had ‘system-wide failure of leadership and supervision,’ report says

An investigation of the sheriff’s office in Tulsa County, Oklahoma, launched after a close friend of the sheriff working as a reserve deputy said he mistakenly fired his handgun instead of a Taser when he killed a man, indicates that the department has a “system-wide failure of leadership and supervision,”…

Feb 26, 2016 1:55 PM CST

Spencer Fane opens Oklahoma City office with 9 attorneys from Lester firm

Corrected: Spencer Fane announced Monday that the 170-attorney firm is opening an Oklahoma City office, its first in the state, with at least 9 lawyers from the former Lester Loving & Davies. Spencer Fane was able to extend the group’s existing lease, following the dissolution of the Lester firm, but…

Feb 1, 2016 4:00 PM CST

DA unbuttons suit jacket, then brings down suspect fleeing courthouse

A suspect fleeing down the hallway of an Oklahoma courthouse last week was no match for the local district attorney and at least one fellow lawyer. Oklahoma County DA David Prater coolly unbuttoned his suit jacket, a security video shows, before grabbing Israel Pointer by the leg and holding on.…

Dec 15, 2015 11:05 AM CST

Prosecutor ‘took care of business’ when she shot intruder, sheriff says

A prosecutor who was home sick on Thursday shot an intruder who kicked in the back door of her home in Inola, Oklahoma, according to the local sheriff. Assistant District Attorney Erin Oquin “certainly took care of business” when she shot the suspect, Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton said. KTUL…

Dec 11, 2015 10:26 AM CST

Feds want to destroy Oklahoma City bomber’s gun collection; he asks judge to OK sale

More than 20 years after one of the most notorious crimes of the 20th Century, the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City is still reverberating. Although Terry Nichols was convicted in 1997 and sentenced to life without parole in the blast that killed 168 people, a…

Dec 10, 2015 1:55 PM CST

ACLU sues Oklahoma county seeking removal of Ten Commandments monument

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit against Johnston County Board of Commissioners for putting up a Ten Commandments monument outside the Oklahoma county’s courthouse. KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City reported Monday that the ACLU has filed suit on behalf of several residents of Johnston County demanding the monument’s removal.…

Oct 27, 2015 4:00 PM CDT

Oklahoma used wrong drug in January execution, autopsy report suggests

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin is delaying executions in the state after an autopsy report indicated that an inmate executed in January may have received the wrong execution drug. Fallin says “it became apparent” last week that one of the drugs used to execute Charles Frederick Warner was potassium acetate rather…

Oct 9, 2015 7:29 AM CDT

Oklahoma governor stops execution of Richard Glossip after SCOTUS denies last-minute appeal

For the second time this month, the scheduled execution of Richard Glossip has been canceled within hours of when he was to be put to death by the state of Oklahoma, for a murder he says he had no role in committing. This time, it was the state’s governor who…

Sep 30, 2015 5:10 PM CDT

Oklahoma appeals court stays execution of Richard Glossip

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeal on Wednesday stayed the scheduled execution of Richard Glossip—who was at the center of a lethal-injection case before the U.S. Supreme Court—with barely three hours to spare. The court said it granted the last-minute reprieve in order to “give fair consideration” to death row…

Sep 16, 2015 5:15 PM CDT

Top state court nixes 10 Commandments monument at capitol

A Ten Commandments monument on the Oklahoma Capitol grounds violates the state’s constitution and must be removed, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled (PDF) on Tuesday. However, state attorney general Scott Pruitt said he intends to continue to fight the court’s determination that the 6-foot granite monument is a religious symbol…

Jun 30, 2015 4:35 PM CDT