In the News

Jail Deal Requires City To Pay Fee

The $45 Charge Applies To Municipal Prisoners.

Anyone who kept score during the lengthy negotiations between the city and county over a new jail contract will have a hard time picking a winner now that the details of a new deal have been released. The agreement, for example, calls for the city of Tulsa to pay a direct fee to house inmates in the Tulsa Jail - a proposition the city had long fought.

Trial Could Loom For Jail Dispute

The Judge Says His Order For Mediation Might Have Done Everyone A Disservice.

The dispute between the city and county over a new jail pact is headed to trial unless the two sides can resolve their differences by May 18, a judge said Thursday.

"If the parties were serious about coming to the table, it would have been resolved prior to the filing of the lawsuit," Tulsa County District Judge Jefferson Sellers said during a status hearing.

Ex-State Legislator Acquitted Of Fraud

The Jury Finds Him Not Guilty On Seven Felony Counts Of Corruption.

MUSKOGEE - A former state legislator who was accused of corruption was acquitted of all charges Friday evening.

A federal jury found former state Rep. Randall Erwin, a Nashoba Democrat, not guilty on seven felony counts - including conspiracy, money laundering and failure to provide honest public services - after deliberating for about four hours, his attorney, Clark Brewster, told the Tulsa World.

Amputee To Receive $2.7 Million

A Two-Week Jail Confinement Led To The Loss Of Both Legs.

Who wants to be a millionaire, if it means losing your legs in the process? That is what is happening to Sapulpan Russell "Rusty" Mounger. Mounger has reached a $2.7 million settlement in a federal lawsuit he filed in February 2008 connected to his 2007 stay in the Creek County Jail. The two-week jail stint ended up costing him both of his legs when an infection caused by blood clots progressed to the point that doctors had no choice but to amputate.

City, County At Odds On 3 Issues

Money Is At The Root Of The Disputes

A lot of numbers - and accusations - have been tossed around by city and county officials over the past few years.

County Demands Payment From City

A Jail Panel Says Bills For Housing Municipal Prisoners Are Overdue.

The Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority on Friday demanded that the city of Tulsa pay the $267,997 it claims the city owes for housing municipal inmates in the Tulsa Jail over the last three months.

Retired Justice Is Tapped To Mediate Jail Discussion

The County Commission selected retired Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice Daniel Boudreau on Monday to mediate the next round of talks between the city and county over a new jail agreement.

Judge Orders Mediation On Jail Fuss

He Tells The City And County To Restart Talks On The City's Inmate Fees.

A judge ordered Monday that the city of Tulsa and Tulsa County return to the negotiating table to resolve their differences over a new jail agreement.
"I feel both the interests of the city and the county are best served by an agreed mediation of these issues," Tulsa County District Judge Jefferson Sellers said.

Judge To Hear County Request In Jail Dispute

The legal dispute between the city of Tulsa and Tulsa County over a new jail agreement will head back to court Tuesday when District Judge Jefferson Sellers hears the county's request that the private law firm representing the city be disqualified from the case.

City And County Prepare For Fees In Jail Dispute

The city of Tulsa and Tulsa County are setting aside a total of $65,000 to pay the private attorneys hired to resolve their dispute over the housing of municipal inmates in the Tulsa Jail, records indicate.

Owasso Settles Shooting Case

The city's insurance will pay $300,000 to the estate of a suicidal man shot by police.

A federal lawsuit over the August 2002 fatal shooting of sword-wielding suicidal man by Owasso police has been settled for $300,000, Owasso City Attorney Julie Lombardi said Wednesday.

Mistrial Clears Ex-Prosecutor

The judge in the embezzlement trial cites evidence concerns.

OKMULGEE - Embezzlement charges against former eastern Oklahoma prosecutor Richard Gray were dismissed Wednesday after the prosecution rested its case.

Foreman Explains $66 Million Verdict

Oil, gas lease in dispute on 20 acres

For Duncan resident Melissa Howe, serving as the foreman of the jury on the civil lawsuit case involving two families against Shell Oil Company brought forth many emotions.

New Trial Is Ordered For Ex-Officer

He could be freed from custody within days, his lawyer says.

A federal appellate court has reversed the conviction of a former Tulsa police officer who was sentenced to prison last year for conspiracy, obstruction of justice and giving unlawful notice of a search warrant.

Families Win $66 Million Lawsuit

Oil case hits courtroom 13 years after initial filing
DUNCAN - A jury awarded over $66 million to be paid by Shell Oil Company to two families in a civil lawsuit in Stephens County District Court May 9.

Suit Against Automaker Linked To Fatal Crash Settled

A Tulsa couple claimed that the SUV their son drove had a weak roof.

A federal product liability lawsuit that originally resulted in a $15 million verdict against Ford Motor Co. has been settled on undisclosed terms, sources on both sides of the dispute said Thursday.

Judge Exits Ford Motor Co. Wrongful-Death Retrial

The retrial of a wrongful-death lawsuit against Ford Motor Co., originally scheduled for Monday, was delayed for more than five months after the judge who threw out the original $15 million verdict removed herself from the case.

Lawyer: Suits Not About Big Money

When a federal judge added more than $3.3 million Friday onto the $15 million verdict a jury had awarded to a Tulsa couple in a product liability case against Ford Motor Co., some might have gotten the impression that the case was about money.

Largest Verdicts Dwarf Recent Tulsa Awards

While verdicts in the Moody and Wolf cases were large by local standards, much larger awards have been won recently in other parts of the country.

Judge Adds To Ford Verdict

A federal judge on Friday tacked more than $3.3 million onto the $15 million verdict a jury awarded to a Tulsa couple whose son was killed in a 2003 traffic accident.

Fears To Remain In Custody

Mental Health Experts Say He Is Still A Danger To The Public.

SALLISAW -- Two state mental-health experts testified Friday that one-time convicted killer Daniel Hawke Fears, now considered not guilty by reason of insanity, should stay in custody because he remains a danger to the public.

Both expressed concerns about what Fears, now 22, might do if he was released free from court-ordered supervision and treatment.

"Water in Tupperware keeps its form," Oklahoma Forensic Center psychologist Paul Rausch said in Sequoyah County District Court. "Let it out and it loses its form sometimes."

Court Officially Reverses Fears Conviction

SALLISAW -- In the courtroom where he was found guilty in a deadly shooting spree several years ago, Daniel Hawke Fears saw his conviction officially reversed Thursday because of his mental illness.

Reversal Planned For Open Court

A Judge Who Must Change A Man's Murder Convictions To Not Guilty By Reason Of Insanity Will Do So In Public.

SALLISAW -- Daniel Hawke Fears will return to a Sequoyah County courtroom Thursday to have his murder convictions officially reversed.

The convictions will be changed to not guilty by reason of insanity, and Fears will be moved from jail to a mental-health hospital, a judge said Tuesday.

District Judge Jeff Payton will act on the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals' recent precedent-setting ruling that reversed Fears' guilty verdicts in the Oct. 26, 2002, slayings of two people and woundings of eight others.

The appellate ruling compels Payton, who took office just this month, to sign off on Fears' acquittal and order him to a mental-health hospital for treatment and evaluation. Payton, however, wanted to sign the order during a public hearing.

"The Court of Criminal Appeals told us pretty much what to do," he said. "I just felt we needed to let everybody know."

Reversal Of Murder Verdict Stands

A state appeals court rules that its decision in the case of Daniel Fears, accused in a shooting spree, was proper.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that it acted correctly six months ago when it reversed the murder convictions of Daniel Hawke Fears and put in its own verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, it said in an opinion made public Monday.

One of the appellate court's dissenting judges, however, accused his colleagues of acting like "philosopher kings" in substituting their own finding for those of the jury.

The court denied a request by Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson that the justices rehear the Fears reversal, which should move him out of prison and into a mental-health center. The court agreed earlier to delay that transfer while it considered Edmondson's motion.

In the ruling filed Friday, the court decided that Edmondson was wrong in his argument that the case should go back to a jury of Fears' peers.

"The state mistakenly suggests that this court does not have the authority to reach its decision," read the majority opinion reached by Judges Charles S. Chapel, Charles A. Johnson and David B. Lewis.

Jury's Verdict Goes Against Ford

Federal jurors in Tulsa find the automaker liable in a deadly crash and award the plaintiffs $15 million.

A federal jury in Tulsa returned a $15 million verdict against Ford Motor Co. on Monday in a product-liability lawsuit brought by the parents of a teenager who died in a crash of a 1995 Ford Explorer Sport.