Crimes Against Children Archives

F-2005-232

Post author:Staff
Post published:July 25, 2006
Post category:F

In OCCA case No. F-2005-232, Timothy Mark Dunivan appealed his conviction for sexually abusing a minor and child abuse. In an unpublished decision, the court decided to reverse the convictions for child abuse but affirmed the convictions for sexually abusing a minor. One judge dissented. To explain a little more, Timothy was found guilty of hurting and abusing his minor daughter in serious ways over several years. The case involved very serious charges, and a jury in Tulsa County agreed with the accusations against him. As a result, he was sentenced to many years in prison and also had to pay fines. Timothy argued that he should not have been charged because too much time had passed since the crimes occurred. He believed that the law didn't apply in his case due to what is called the statute of limitations. However, the court found that for the sexual abuse charges, the time limit to charge him was still valid, so those charges stuck. On the other hand, for the child abuse charges, they decided that quite a bit of time had passed, and so those charges were dropped. Throughout this process, there was a lot of discussion about the laws and how they applied to the case. The court also looked at the evidence provided during the trial and found that it was indeed acceptable to use some evidence from before the time period in which he was charged to show a pattern of behavior. In the end, while Timothy's very serious sentence for abusing his daughter stayed, he ended up having fewer charges against him after the appeal.

F-2003-1278

Post author:Staff
Post published:January 31, 2005
Post category:F

In OCCA case No. F-2003-1278, James Lorenzo Devers appealed his conviction for Inducing a Minor to Engage in Prostitution and Indecent Proposal to a Child. In an unpublished decision, the court decided to affirm the convictions with some modifications. One judge dissented. Devers was tried in Tulsa County and found guilty of multiple charges involving sexual misconduct with teenage boys. The jury sentenced him to life imprisonment with fines after considering testimonies from three victims who claimed Devers offered them money to perform sexual acts. Despite some conflicting details regarding the timing of his proposal, the evidence against Devers was strong, including his own confession about some of the offenses. The appeal included several arguments. One claim was about the trial court's decision not to separate the charges for trial. The court maintained that the offenses were connected and reflected a consistent pattern of behavior, justifying their joint consideration. The court found no prejudice in trying the counts together. Devers also argued the jury was given incorrect instructions regarding the punishment for his indecent proposal charge. However, the court noted that the error did not change the outcome since he would have received the same sentence even under the correct guideline. Another point of appeal was regarding whether the jury was informed about parole eligibility. The court ruled the instructions were appropriate since the charges in question did not include those that required serving a certain percentage of the sentence before being eligible for parole. The court acknowledged that there was a mixing of punishment provisions in the instructions but decided any fines would be adjusted because of that error. Ultimately, after reviewing all claims, the court upheld the convictions but modified the fine amount for Devers' offenses. The judgment was affirmed with modifications, while one judge expressed disagreement with some aspects of the decision.

F-2001-692

Post author:Staff
Post published:October 15, 2002
Post category:F

In OCCA case No. F-2001-692, William Ray Pratt appealed his conviction for First Degree Rape by Instrumentation and Child Sexual Abuse. In an unpublished decision, the court decided to affirm the convictions and sentences for most counts but reversed one count due to lack of evidence. One member of the court dissented. Pratt was found guilty of several serious crimes against a child and was sentenced to a total of 45 years in prison, with the sentences for each count set to run one after the other. He challenged his conviction on several grounds, which were carefully reviewed by the court. First, Pratt argued that evidence of other crimes against him should not have been allowed in the trial. The court found that this evidence was considered appropriate because it showed similar behavior. Next, Pratt claimed there were mistakes made during the trial that hurt his chance for a fair trial. The court disagreed, saying that the mistakes did not significantly affect the outcome of his trial. Finally, Pratt mentioned that there was not enough evidence for one of the counts against him. The court agreed with this, stating that the required proof of penetration was missing for that specific count, leading them to reverse the conviction for that charge and instruct the lower court to dismiss it. Overall, while Pratt's appeal was partially successful, the court upheld most of his convictions and sentences.