Conviction Archives - Page 11 of 11

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 In an unpublished decision, the court decided to reverse the conviction with instructions to dismiss the case.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.

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 In an unpublished decision, the court decided to reverse the conviction.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-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 In an unpublished decision, the court decided to reverse his conviction and send the case back for a new trial.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 2000-599

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-1999-1465

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.

M-2000-115

Post author:Staff
Post published:January 31, 2001
Post category:M

In OCCA case No. M-2000-115, the person appealed his conviction for assault and battery, assault upon a peace officer, and malicious injury to property, along with two counts of domestic abuse - assault and battery. In a published decision, the court decided to affirm the convictions except for one count of domestic abuse, which was reversed with instructions to dismiss. One member of the court dissented. The case took place in the District Court of Seminole County, where the appellant was found guilty after a non-jury trial. He was sentenced to time in jail and fines for his crimes, and the sentences were ordered to be served one after the other. During the appeal, the appellant raised two main arguments. First, he claimed that two counts of assault and battery were unfair because they stemmed from the same incident. Second, he argued there was not enough evidence to prove he intended to assault a police officer. After reviewing the case, the court agreed that the two counts of domestic abuse arose from one incident and that the state had not properly informed the appellant about these charges, so the conviction for that count was reversed. However, the court found there was enough evidence to support the other convictions. In summary, except for one count of domestic abuse that was reversed, the court upheld the other convictions.

F-2000-1232

Post author:Staff
Post published:January 30, 2001
Post category:F

In OCCA case No. F-2000-1232, Virginia Lee Patton appealed her conviction for Second Degree Murder and Injury to a Minor Child. In an unpublished decision, the court decided to affirm the conviction for Second Degree Murder but reversed the conviction for Neglect of a Minor Child with instructions to dismiss. One judge dissented. Virginia Lee Patton was found guilty by a jury of killing someone (which was labeled as Second Degree Murder) and of causing harm to a child (originally charged as Injury to a Minor Child). The jury recommended a punishment of fifty years in prison for the murder, and a one-year sentence for the charge related to the minor child. The sentences were set to be served one after the other. During her appeal, Patton claimed two main issues. First, she argued that there wasn't enough evidence to support the murder conviction and that it was wrong to charge her with Second Degree Murder. Secondly, she pointed out that it was unfair to charge her with two crimes based on the same situation, which might violate her rights. The court examined all details and evidence from the trial. After reviewing everything, the judges agreed that there was enough evidence to support the murder conviction. They felt that a reasonable person could conclude she was guilty of that offense based on the facts presented during the trial. However, the court also recognized that charging Patton with both Second Degree Murder and Neglect of a Minor Child was a problem because it relied on the same evidence for both charges. Due to this, they decided to reverse the conviction for Neglect of a Minor Child and ordered it to be dismissed, meaning she would not be punished for that crime. In summary, the court upheld the serious conviction for murder while removing the lesser charge related to the child. One judge disagreed with the decision about the murder conviction.

F-2000-282

Post author:Staff
Post published:January 26, 2001
Post category:F

In OCCA case No. F-2000-282, Sidney Wayne Clark appealed his conviction for Larceny of Merchandise from a Retailer and Placing Bodily Fluids on a Government Employee. In a published decision, the court decided to modify Clark's sentence for Count I to one year in the County Jail and for Count II to one year imprisonment, with both sentences to run consecutively. One judge dissented.

F-2000-1062

Post author:Staff
Post published:February 1, 2000
Post category:F

In OCCA case No. F-99-710, Bruce Hampton appealed his conviction for Trafficking in Cocaine Base, Failure to Affix a Tax Stamp, and Public Intoxication. In an unpublished decision, the court decided to affirm the judgment on Counts 2 and 3, but modified the fine on Count 1 to $10,000. One judge dissented. Bruce Hampton was found guilty of serious crimes. The jury decided he should go to jail for a long time, giving him a total of fifty years for one charge and another fifty years for another charge, along with thirty days in jail for being publicly drunk. The judge agreed with the jury's decision. However, there was a problem with the fine that was placed on Bruce Hampton for the serious crime of Trafficking in Cocaine Base. The court discovered that the fine given was not correct according to the law. The law said the maximum fine should only be $10,000, not the higher amount that was initially decided. Because of this mistake, the court changed the fine to the correct amount but did not change the jail time sentences. So, the court said that Bruce's time in jail and other sentences would stay the same except for the fine, which was lowered.