Okla. Stat. tit. 22 § 991a-21(A)

F-2019-605

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In OCCA case No. F-2019-605, Jerome Matthew McConell appealed his conviction for Obtaining Merchandise by False Pretenses. In an unpublished decision, the court decided to affirm the judgment and sentence of the district court, except for certain parts which were stricken. One member of the court dissented. McConell was found guilty after a bench trial in the District Court of McCurtain County. He was sentenced to thirty months in prison, but he argued that his trial was unfair for three main reasons. First, he claimed he was not allowed to confront some witnesses properly because hearsay evidence was permitted. Hearsay is when someone testifies about what another person said outside of court, which usually isn't allowed as direct evidence. However, the court found no real error in this situation because McConell's lawyer brought up the same issues during questioning. Therefore, the court did not see a violation of his rights. Second, McConell argued that evidence from another incident should not have been allowed by the court because the state did not give proper notice about it. However, the court decided that the evidence was relevant and no mistakes were made in permitting it. Lastly, McConell noted that the written sentence and conditions after his trial did not match what was discussed in court. The judge had ordered conditions that he should not enter a casino and also mentioned costs for prosecution that were not allowed under the law. The court agreed that these parts of the judgment were incorrect and decided to strike them from his sentence. In summary, the appeals court did affirm McConell's conviction, meaning they upheld the trial's decision, but they corrected some errors in how his sentence was recorded and ordered the lower court to make those changes.

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F-2017-1189

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In OCCA case No. F-2017-1189, Lawrence Raymond Silver, Jr. appealed his conviction for Solicitation for First Degree Murder. In a published decision, the court decided to affirm the judgment and sentence from the district court. One judge dissented. The case started when Silver was tried and found guilty of trying to get someone to commit murder. The jury decided he should go to prison for thirty-seven years. During the trial, Silver raised several issues on appeal. First, he argued that the prosecutor said some unfair things that hurt his chances for a fair trial. However, the court found that these comments were not serious enough to make the trial unfair, and there was no error. Silver also thought that he should not have received three years of supervision after leaving prison since the law said this only applied to specific crimes. The court agreed that there was an error, but the trial judge later fixed it, reducing the supervision time to nine months to a year. Because this was corrected, Silver did not need any more relief on this issue. Additionally, Silver claimed that his lawyer did not help him well enough during the trial. The court explained that to show his lawyer was ineffective, Silver needed to prove that if the lawyer had done better, the result of the trial would have been different. Since the court didn't find any of the previous claims valid, they decided that his lawyer's work couldn't be judged as ineffective. Finally, Silver said that even if no single issue mattered on its own, the overall mistakes during the trial combined to deny him a fair trial. The court ruled that without any valid individual mistakes, his claim for cumulative errors was groundless. In conclusion, the court upheld the original judgment and sentence against Silver, and his request for further testing of his lawyer's assistance was denied.

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F-2017-602

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In OCCA case No. F-2017-602, Kenneth Donald Knox appealed his conviction for Child Abuse by Injury. In a published decision, the court decided to affirm Knox’s conviction and twenty-five-year prison sentence, but they modified the period of post-imprisonment supervision from three years to one year. One justice dissented. Knox was found guilty by a jury in Tulsa County for causing injuries to a four-month-old baby. The jury decided that he should spend twenty-five years in prison for this crime. Knox thought his lawyer didn’t help him properly, said there wasn’t enough proof for the conviction, and argued that the extra year of supervision after prison was not allowed by law. The court looked closely at all the facts and evidence in his case. They explained that to prove a lawyer didn’t do a good job, Knox had to show that it hurt his chances of winning the case. The court found that Knox didn’t provide enough proof to support his argument about his lawyer’s effectiveness. When it came to the conviction, the court reviewed whether there was enough evidence against Knox. They decided that there was enough proof to show that Knox harmed the baby. Lastly, about the extra supervision time after prison, they agreed that Knox should only have to do one year instead of three, as the law supports a shorter period in his case. In summary, Knox's conviction was upheld, he was given a long prison sentence, and the court changed the rules about his supervision time after he’s released.

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C-2015-856

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In OCCA case No. C-2015-856, Misty Dawn Smith appealed her conviction for Possession of Controlled Dangerous Substance (Methamphetamine). In a published decision, the court decided to deny Smith's petition for a writ of certiorari but modified her post-imprisonment supervision from two years to one year. One judge dissented. Smith was charged with having methamphetamine and entered a guilty plea in December 2012. She was supposed to complete a drug court program which could lead to a lighter sentence. If she did well, her sentence would be a five-year suspended sentence and a fine. If she didn't, she could face ten years in prison and a larger fine. She was taken to a treatment facility and started the drug court program in May 2013. However, in July 2015, the state asked to remove her from this program because she was not following the rules. A judge agreed, and Smith was sentenced to ten years in prison and a fine. Smith wanted to withdraw her guilty plea, arguing that she didn’t understand everything about her plea and the consequences of the drug court program. She also argued that her sentence was too harsh. The court looked at these claims but determined that there was no reason to allow her to change her plea. Her initial plea was considered to be made knowingly and voluntarily. The court found that Smith knew about the difficult nature of the drug court program and that she had many chances to follow the rules. They also stated that she didn’t raise her claim about the excessive sentence in the correct way, and therefore, it could not be considered. The court agreed that the two years of post-imprisonment supervision given to her was incorrect and lowered it to one year, which is what the law allows. The decision was made after reviewing all details and records of the case.

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F-2013-732

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In OCCA case No. F-2013-732, Bryan Thomas Delaney appealed his conviction for Escape from a Penal Institution and Resisting Arrest. In a published decision, the court decided to modify his sentence for post-imprisonment supervision but upheld the rest of his conviction. One member of the court dissented. Delaney was found guilty by a jury after a trial where he faced charges for escaping a jail and resisting the police. As a result of these charges, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the escape and 1 year in the county jail for the resisting arrest. The judge also ordered him to have 2 years of supervision after his prison time. Delaney argued that he was treated unfairly during the sentencing. He felt that the jury was wrongly told that his previous felony convictions could lead to a harsher sentence. However, he did not raise this issue during the trial, which made it harder for him to win the appeal. The court found that his past crimes were separate incidents and did not fall under the rules for counting prior offenses. Delaney also claimed that his lawyer did not do a good job because they did not challenge the jury instruction about the prior convictions. For his appeal to be successful on this point, he needed to show that his lawyer's mistakes really changed the outcome of his trial. The court decided that, since the jury's instruction was appropriate, his lawyer's actions did not affect his case. Finally, the court noted that while neither side pointed it out, Delaney was sentenced to longer supervision than what the law allows. They corrected this by reducing the supervision time to just 1 year. In summary, the court made some changes to Delaney's post-prison supervision but agreed with the rest of his sentencing and conviction. The decision was mostly upheld, and only one part was changed to be in line with the law.

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