Staff, Author at OCCA Opinions

F 2000-292

Post author:Staff
Post published:April 24, 2001
Post category:F

In OCCA case No. F 2000-292, Joe Stratmoen appealed his conviction for Unlawful Possession of a Controlled Dangerous Drug (Methamphetamine) and Possession of a Weapon While Committing a Felony. In an unpublished decision, the court decided to affirm his conviction but modified the sentence for the weapon charge. One judge dissented regarding the modification of the sentence. Stratmoen was found guilty of having methamphetamine and a weapon during a felony. At his trial, he was sentenced to 30 years for the drug charge and 20 years for the weapon charge. He raised three main issues on appeal. First, he argued that the court did not correctly explain the state’s need to prove his past convictions. Second, he claimed the jury was misinformed about the punishment ranges for the second charge. Third, he said the jury was not correctly told about the punishments for the drug offense. The court looked carefully at all the evidence and arguments presented. They decided that the way the jury was instructed about the drug charges was correct. However, they agreed that the sentence for the weapon charge should be less severe based on their interpretations of the law, setting it to the minimum of two years instead of the original twenty. One judge disagreed with the decision to lessen the sentence for the weapon charge, feeling that the jury’s sentence should be upheld. The final conclusion was that while the main conviction was upheld, the penalty for possession of a weapon was reduced.

F-2000-365

Post author:Staff
Post published:April 19, 2001
Post category:F

In OCCA case No. F-2000-365, Kevin Michael Crase appealed his conviction for Manufacturing a Controlled Dangerous Substance, specifically methamphetamine. In an unpublished decision, the court decided to reverse the conviction. One judge dissented. Crase was found guilty after a trial by jury and received a sentence of twenty years in prison and a $50,000 fine. He argued several points for his appeal, including that there wasn't enough evidence to prove he was actually involved in making the drugs or helping someone else do it. Upon reviewing everything, the court agreed with Crase, stating that although he was there and knew what was happening, there was no proof that he helped or encouraged the drug production in any way. Simply being present at the scene isn’t enough to prove someone committed a crime. Therefore, the court reversed his conviction and instructed the lower court to dismiss the case.

F-2000-367

Post author:Staff
Post published:April 19, 2001
Post category:F

In OCCA case No. F-2000-367, Kenneth Matthew Crase appealed his conviction for Manufacturing a Controlled Dangerous Substance - Methamphetamine. In an unpublished decision, the court decided to reverse the conviction with instructions to dismiss the case. One member of the court dissented. Crase was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to twenty years in prison and fined $50,000. He argued several points about why he should not be convicted. He claimed there was not enough evidence to prove he helped make methamphetamine. He also said there wasn't enough support for the testimony from an accomplice, that evidence of other crimes was unfair during his trial, and that the prosecutors behaved badly, making it hard for him to get a fair trial. After looking closely at all the evidence and records from the trial, the court agreed with Crase. They found that just being present and knowing that someone was making methamphetamine did not mean he was guilty of making it or helping to make it. The court concluded that there was not enough proof to convict him, so they reversed the lower court's decision and ordered the case to be dismissed.

C-2000-35

Post author:Staff
Post published:April 18, 2001
Post category:C

In OCCA case No. C-2000-35, Anthony Dwayne Goshay appealed his conviction for escape from county jail and assault on a correctional officer. In a published decision, the court decided to grant Goshay's appeal and reverse the lower court's decision. One judge dissented. Goshay was in Comanche County District Court, where he pled guilty to two charges on October 7, 1999. At his sentencing on October 20, 1999, he tried to take back his guilty plea, but the judge did not allow it. Instead, Goshay was sentenced to five years for escape and three years for assault. After some time, his lawyer and then Goshay himself asked to withdraw the plea, but those requests were denied in December 1999. The case was sent back to the district court in August 2000 to check if Goshay was present when his request to withdraw the plea was denied. A new hearing took place on October 2, 2000, but the judge again said no to Goshay's request to change his plea. On appeal, Goshay argued that his plea wasn't voluntary because he felt pressured, that he was not informed about all the important parts of the charges he faced, and that his convictions were unfair because they involved double punishment. The court looked closely at these claims and agreed that Goshay's plea should be allowed to be withdrawn. It decided that when Goshay made his guilty plea, he was promised he could change his mind at sentencing without any negative consequences. However, when he did try to back out during sentencing, he wasn't given that chance. Therefore, the court found that Goshay didn't receive the deal he was promised. In conclusion, the OCCA reversed the original conviction and said further actions should follow that are consistent with their opinion, meaning Goshay would have the opportunity to withdraw his guilty plea, as originally agreed.

F-1999-1615

Post author:Staff
Post published:April 18, 2001
Post category:F

In OCCA case No. F-99-1615, Jackie Lavern Nuckols appealed his conviction for Manufacturing or Attempting to Manufacture Methamphetamine. In an unpublished decision, the court decided to reverse his conviction and send the case back for a new trial. One member of the court dissented. Nuckols was found guilty by a jury, and he was sentenced to twenty years in prison along with a $100,000 fine. He appealed his conviction, raising several issues. First, he argued that old convictions were unfairly used against him, which should not have been allowed. The court agreed that this was not right since the old convictions could have influenced the jury too much. However, they also said that this alone didn’t change the outcome of the trial. Second, there was a problem with evidence about another crime that was brought up during the trial. The court found that this evidence was not appropriate but decided that it didn't have a big impact on the jury’s decision. Third, Nuckols thought that his fine was too high and should be changed, but the court did not agree with this point. Fourth, he claimed that he didn't have enough help from his lawyer when he needed it. The court said that even though his lawyer might not have done everything perfectly, it didn’t hurt Nuckols' chance for a fair trial. His lawyer had a chance to represent him in other important parts of the trial. Lastly, Nuckols felt that when all of these issues were looked at together, they took away his right to a fair trial. The court acknowledged that some mistakes were made, especially about the old convictions and the mention of another crime, and they concluded that these combined errors were serious enough to justify a new trial. All in all, the court decided to reverse Nuckols’ conviction and said he should have a new trial to properly address these issues.

F 2000-152

Post author:Staff
Post published:April 17, 2001
Post category:F

In OCCA case No. F 2000-152, the appellant, Sidney Leon Crittenden, appealed his conviction for two counts of Lewd Molestation. In a published decision, the court decided to affirm the conviction for the first count but reversed and remanded the second count with instructions to dismiss. One judge dissented. Crittenden was charged with serious offenses, including First Degree Rape by Instrumentation and Lewd Molestation. He was found guilty on two counts of Lewd Molestation and sentenced to 45 years in prison for each count, along with a fine. On appeal, Crittenden raised several arguments. He claimed that the trial court made mistakes, such as changing the charges and allowing evidence of other crimes, which he felt unfairly influenced the jury. He also argued that being convicted of two offenses from the same incident was against the rules, and he felt the sentences he received were too harsh. After looking carefully at all the details of the case, the court agreed with Crittenden on one issue—being charged for two separate offenses from one event was not acceptable. They affirmed the first conviction but ordered that the second one be dismissed as there was not enough evidence to support it as a separate act. The court noted that while some evidence suggested there might have been different incidents, it was not strong enough to meet the required level of proof. They concluded that the trial was mostly fair, and the sentences for the first count seemed appropriate. Overall, the decision respected that some of the rules regarding the number of convictions related to a single act were not followed and adjusted the outcome accordingly.

RE 2000-0688

Post author:Staff
Post published:April 17, 2001
Post category:RE

In OCCA case No. RE 2000-0688, the individual appealed his conviction for unlawful possession of a controlled substance. In an unpublished decision, the court decided to reverse the decision by the lower court and send the case back for further proceedings. One judge dissented. Here's what happened: The person had a suspended sentence because he had pleaded to a crime in 1997. His sentence meant that he would not go to jail right away, but he had to follow certain rules. If he broke those rules, the court could revoke his suspended sentence and send him to jail. In April 2000, the state filed to revoke his suspended sentence. The hearing to decide this was supposed to happen soon, but due to scheduling issues, the hearing was delayed. The court did not hold the hearing within the required 20 days after the plea was entered. Because of this delay, the court found that they lost the authority to revoke the sentence. The appellate court reviewed the case and made the decision to reverse the lower court's ruling. They pointed out that the law clearly states the timeline for revocation hearings and that this timeline was not followed in this case. Thus, they sent the matter back to the lower court for further action.

F 2000-599

Post author:Staff
Post published:April 13, 2001
Post category:F

In OCCA case No. F 2000-599, Charles Earl Smith, Jr. appealed his conviction for Omitting to Provide for Minor Child. In an unpublished decision, the court decided to affirm the conviction and modify the restitution amount. One judge dissented. Charles Earl Smith, Jr. was found guilty in a court for not taking care of his child. After the trial, he was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay a fine and restitution. The restitution amount was initially set at $10,247.00, but Smith argued this was unfair. The court looked at the case closely and found that the restitution amount should actually be changed to $10,035.25 after considering some payments that Smith had already made. They agreed that the judge had the right to ask for restitution, but the amount needed to be fixed. In the end, the court agreed with Smith about changing the restitution amount but kept the rest of the conviction the same.

F-1999-1084

Post author:Staff
Post published:April 12, 2001
Post category:F

In OCCA case No. F-1999-1084, Jesse Stanard appealed his conviction for Assault and Battery with a Deadly Weapon with Intent to Kill and two counts of Assault and Battery with a Dangerous Weapon. In an unpublished decision, the court decided to reverse his conviction for the first count and remand it for a new trial, but affirmed the convictions for the other two counts. One judge dissented.

F 2000-0310

Post author:Staff
Post published:April 6, 2001
Post category:F

In OCCA case No. F 2000-0310, Buckley appealed his conviction for Burglary Second Degree. In a published decision, the court decided to affirm the acceleration of his deferred sentence but modified it to run concurrently with another sentence. None dissented.

F-1999-1654

Post author:Staff
Post published:April 4, 2001
Post category:F

In OCCA case No. F-99-1654, Damean Ortego Tillis appealed his conviction for Unlawful Possession of Marijuana with Intent to Distribute and Feloniously Carrying a Firearm. In an unpublished decision, the court decided to modify the first conviction to Unlawful Possession of Marijuana and reduce the sentence to one year of imprisonment, which would be served consecutively with the sentence for the firearm charge. One judge dissented. Tillis was tried by jury in Caddo County and found guilty of both charges. The jury recommended a ten-year sentence for the marijuana charge and a twenty-year sentence for the firearm charge. The judge agreed to these sentences and ordered them to be served back-to-back. Tillis raised several points in his appeal. He argued that the trial court made mistakes, including admitting evidence of his previous conviction and not allowing a separate trial for the firearm charge. He claimed this hurt his chances for a fair trial. He also believed there wasn't enough evidence to prove he intended to distribute marijuana and that his sentence was too harsh. After reviewing everything, the court agreed that the trial court made a mistake by admitting evidence of Tillis's past conviction during the first part of the trial. This was against the rules because the laws say only certain previous convictions should be shared at certain stages of the trial. However, the court decided that, even with this mistake, the evidence against Tillis for possessing marijuana was strong enough to still uphold his conviction, but it should be changed to a less serious charge. For the second point, the court found no error in not telling the jury about a lack of knowledge defense regarding the firearm. They said there was no evidence to support that claim. On the third point, they agreed there wasn't enough evidence to show he wanted to distribute marijuana, so they modified that conviction to simple possession, which is less serious. Lastly, they said the sentences were not extreme, so the decision on the firearm charge stayed unchanged. In summary, Tillis's conviction for marijuana possession was lessened, and his sentence was adjusted, but the firearm conviction was maintained as originally sentenced.

RE-2000-920

Post author:Staff
Post published:March 28, 2001
Post category:RE

In OCCA case No. RE-2000-920, Robert Lerone Mims appealed his conviction for violating probation terms. In a published decision, the court decided to reverse the revocation of three years of Appellant's suspended sentence and remand the case back to the District Court for further actions. One member of the court dissented.

RE-2000-1010

Post author:Staff
Post published:March 28, 2001
Post category:RE

In OCCA case No. RE-2000-1010, the appellant appealed his conviction for multiple charges, including possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, failure to affix a tax stamp, unlawful possession of marijuana, unlawful use of a police radio, and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia. In a published decision, the court decided to affirm the revocation of the appellant's suspended sentences but also ordered that the sentences for two specific charges be modified to ensure they were within the legal limits set by statute. One judge dissented.

F 2001-434

Post author:Staff
Post published:March 21, 2001
Post category:F

In OCCA case No. F 2001-434, the appellant appealed his conviction for multiple drug-related charges. In an unpublished decision, the court decided to reverse and dismiss some of the charges while affirming others. One judge dissented regarding the dismissal of a particular charge. William Forrest Mondier was found guilty of attempting to make drugs, possessing drugs, and allowing a place for drug users. The court looked at his case and found mistakes in how the jury was instructed regarding one of the charges. Because the jury didn't have the right information, they couldn't properly decide if Mondier had acted knowingly or intentionally when maintaining a place used for drugs. Therefore, that conviction was reversed. The court also found that Mondier's possession of marijuana and methamphetamine was too similar to keep both convictions, so they reversed one of them. However, his other convictions, including drug manufacturing and possession of drug paraphernalia, remained in place, as there was enough evidence against him for those charges. There were also several arguments raised by the appellant about the fairness of his trial and the enforcement of laws regarding the charges, but the court denied those claims. The final decision was to reverse and dismiss the charge of maintaining a place for drug users and the marijuana charge. The convictions for attempting to manufacture drugs and possessing paraphernalia were affirmed. One judge disagreed with the dismissal and wanted a new trial instead.

RE-2000-252

Post author:Staff
Post published:March 21, 2001
Post category:RE

In OCCA case No. RE-2000-252, Kenneth Bristol appealed his conviction for Grand Larceny. In a published decision, the court decided to reverse and remand the case for further proceedings. No one dissented. Kenneth Bristol was sentenced to serve five years, with a part of the sentence suspended while he followed rules of probation. He had a tough time fulfilling the probation conditions. The state claimed he did not show up for appointments and failed to pay restitution. This led to an application to revoke his suspended sentence. When Bristol was arrested, the court held several hearings but did not finalize his case right away. There were discussions about his appeal, but it wasn’t clear whether it was processed correctly. The court noted that Bristol was not given a fair chance to appeal the earlier decision to reject his motion to withdraw his guilty plea. The higher court found that there was not enough evidence to show his suspended sentence was revoked properly. They reversed the lower court's decision and told them to look into the case again, allowing Bristol another chance to appeal his previous decision.

F 2000-341

Post author:Staff
Post published:March 20, 2001
Post category:F

In OCCA case No. F 2000-341, Cortez Lamont Franklin appealed his conviction for Possession of a Controlled Dangerous Substance (Cocaine Base). In an unpublished decision, the court decided to reverse the conviction. One judge dissented. Cortez Franklin was found guilty after a trial in Oklahoma County. The jury sentenced him to twenty years in prison. He appealed, arguing that the trial court should have excluded evidence found during his arrest, claiming it violated his rights under the Fourth Amendment. He also said the evidence was not enough to prove he had the drugs. The appellate court looked at the reasons for stopping Franklin. The judges found that the police did not have reasonable suspicion when they detained him. Because Franklin's detention was considered unreasonable, they stated that the drugs found during this unlawful detention could not be used as evidence. Since there was no valid evidence left to support his conviction, the court reversed the trial court's decision, meaning Franklin's case was sent back with instructions to dismiss the charges against him. They did not need to discuss Franklin's second point about the sufficiency of the evidence.

RE-2000-1034

Post author:Staff
Post published:March 15, 2001
Post category:RE

In OCCA case No. RE-2000-1034, an individual appealed his conviction for unlawful possession of marijuana in the presence of a minor child. In a published decision, the court decided to uphold the decision to revoke part of the individual’s suspended sentence. One judge dissented. The case began when the individual was given a ten-year suspended sentence after pleading guilty in 1996. However, in 2000, the court found that he had violated the terms of his probation. The judge determined that the individual had committed offenses, including driving with a suspended license, and had also failed to make required payments for fines and costs. The individual argued that the court based its decision on prior allegations that the state had withdrawn. However, the court found that the individual did not provide sufficient legal reasons why those prior allegations couldn’t be used again. It also noted that the individual had not made required payments for his fines, having made less than one payment each year during the probation period. The judge emphasized that the individual had signed agreements for payment plans based on his ability to pay. Because he failed to follow through with these payments and was found to have violated other terms of his probation, the judge concluded there was enough reason to find that the individual had intentionally failed to comply. In the final decision, the court affirmed the revocation of a part of the individual’s sentence. However, it noted that the judge had improperly issued a new sentence instead of just executing the previous one. Therefore, while the revocation stood, the court ordered the lower court to correct this issue by properly recording the revocation without imposing a new judgment.

C-2000-1344

Post author:Staff
Post published:March 14, 2001
Post category:C

In OCCA case No. C-00-1344, Betts appealed his conviction for multiple offenses including Driving Under the Influence of Drugs and Assault on a Police Officer. In a published decision, the court decided to grant his petition for relief regarding some of the convictions due to a lack of adequate factual support for those charges. One judge dissented. Betts had pleaded guilty to several charges in a lower court, but later claimed he did not understand all the details of the offenses or the punishments he could receive. He filed a motion to withdraw his plea, which was denied by the district court. The case was then brought to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. The court looked at the reasons Betts provided for wanting to withdraw his plea. One of the main issues was that there was not enough factual evidence to support certain charges against him. For instance, when Betts admitted some wrongdoing, he did not talk about other specific charges like the drug possession or tampering with a vehicle. The court found that because of this, Betts did not really enter his plea to those counts in a fair way. While the court affirmed one of his convictions related to Assault and Battery on a Police Officer, they reversed other convictions regarding Driving Under the Influence of Drugs and related charges. The court also mentioned that there were problems with how restitution was handled, which means determining if and how much money Betts should pay for what he did. Overall, the court sent the case back to the district court to ensure that the restitution issues were corrected and to check if the earlier order of restitution was appropriate for the right case. The court set a timeframe for the district court to work on these issues. In summary, the court found that Betts was not properly informed or supported for several of the charges against him, leading them to reverse some of his convictions while affirming one, and they ordered further hearings on the restitution matter.

RE 2000-0434

Post author:Staff
Post published:March 9, 2001
Post category:RE

In OCCA case No. RE 2000-0434, Jeremy Keith Wright appealed his conviction for participating in a riot and conspiring to commit a felony. In an unpublished decision, the court decided to reverse the revocation of his suspended sentences. One judge dissented. Here's what happened: Jeremy Keith Wright had been found guilty of participating in a riot and conspiracy. He was given a chance to stay out of jail by having his sentences suspended for three years, along with some rules to follow. He also had to pay a fine and fees. Later, the State of Oklahoma wanted to take away his suspended sentences because they believed he violated the rules. On March 6, 2000, they filed a request, but Jeremy wasn’t given a hearing on this until March 28, which was more than the twenty days they were allowed according to the law. Jeremy argued that the court should not have held the revocation hearing after the twenty days were up without his permission. The judges looked carefully at this issue. They concluded that since the hearing was late and there was no proof that Jeremy agreed to wait longer, they could not uphold the revocation. Therefore, the court reversed the decision made by the trial court and sent the case back for more action according to their ruling.

RE 2000-0392

Post author:Staff
Post published:February 16, 2001
Post category:RE

In OCCA case No. RE 2000-0392, the accused appealed his conviction for lewd molestation and rape by force and fear. In a published decision, the court decided to affirm the revocation of the accused's suspended sentences, but modified the sentences for lewd molestation from thirty years to twenty years. One judge dissented from the decision regarding the modification of the sentence.

F 2000-213

Post author:Staff
Post published:February 9, 2001
Post category:F

In OCCA case No. F 2000-213, the Appellant appealed his conviction for Carrying a Controlled Dangerous Substance into Jail. In an unpublished decision, the court decided to reverse the conviction and remand the case with instructions to dismiss. One member of the court dissented. The case involved Heather Davenport, who was accused of bringing illegal substances into a jail. During her trial, the jury found her guilty and suggested a fine and imprisonment. Davenport argued that the jury's decision was unfair because evidence about her husband’s unrelated past crimes was brought into the trial. This evidence was shown to suggest that she knew what she was doing was wrong, which she believed was not relevant to her case. The court agreed with her and noted that the evidence against her did not clearly show that she knew she was breaking the law when she brought the items to the jail. The use of information about her husband’s actions was too unfair and prejudiced her chance for a fair trial. Therefore, the court decided that the conviction should not stand, stating that the evidence presented could have caused a significant mistake in the trial's outcome. The final opinion indicated that the trial court's decision was reversed, and the case was sent back with instructions to dismiss the charges against Davenport.

F-1999-1465

Post author:Staff
Post published:February 8, 2001
Post category:F

In OCCA case No. F-99-1465, Sean Michael Johnson appealed his conviction for First Degree Rape, Forcible Oral Sodomy, and Lewd Acts with a Child Under Sixteen. In a published decision, the court decided to modify Johnson's conviction for First Degree Rape to Second Degree Rape and reduce his sentence to five years. The judgments and sentences for the other counts were affirmed. One judge dissented, expressing concerns about the handling of juvenile procedures in this case.

RE-2000-841

Post author:Staff
Post published:February 8, 2001
Post category:RE

In OCCA case No. RE-2000-841, the appellant appealed his conviction for the revocation of his suspended sentences. In a published decision, the court decided that the appellant's revoked sentences should run concurrently instead of consecutively. One judge dissented.

C-2000-750

Post author:Staff
Post published:February 5, 2001
Post category:C

In OCCA case No. C-2000-750, Nikisha Lynn Farris appealed her conviction for robbery in the first degree and concealing stolen property. In a published decision, the court decided to modify her sentence. One judge dissented. Farris pleaded guilty to robbery and concealing stolen property. She did not have a deal with the District Attorney about her sentence. The judge sentenced her to 100 years for robbery and 5 years for concealing stolen property, and both sentences would be served at the same time. After her sentence, Farris wanted to take back her guilty plea. However, the trial court said no when she asked to withdraw her plea. Farris then appealed the trial court's decision, and the court looked at everything in the case including records and Farris's arguments. The court found that Farris's plea was knowing and voluntary, meaning she understood what she was doing when she pleaded guilty. The court also determined that her lawyer did not make mistakes that harmed her case. However, the court thought the 100-year sentence for robbery was too harsh. They decided to change her sentence to 30 years instead. So while Farris would still have to spend time in prison, it would be less time than what she was originally given. The court agreed to modify the sentence while keeping the other parts of the original decision.

RE-2000-251

Post author:Staff
Post published:February 2, 2001
Post category:RE

In OCCA case No. RE-2000-251, Appellant appealed his conviction for Lewd Molestation. In a published decision, the court decided to modify the revocation of Appellant's sentence to eight years rather than upholding the full revocation. Three judges dissented on the modification. Initially, the Appellant was given a deferred sentence and placed on probation with the requirement of attending sexual abuse counseling. After some time, his probation was revoked due to not following these rules. The court felt there was enough evidence to show he violated his probation rules. However, they believed the full revocation of his sentence was too harsh and modified it to only eight years, while still requiring him to follow the same probation rules set previously.