Prosecutorial Discretion Archives

S-2013-483

Post author:Mili Ahosan
Post published:December 3, 2013
Post category:S

In OCCA case No. S-2013-483, the defendant appealed his conviction for various crimes involving minors, including sodomy, lewd acts, and sexual battery. In an unpublished decision, the court decided to deny the State's appeal regarding the exclusion of certain evidence. One judge dissented from this decision. Thomas Bradley Porton was charged with serious crimes against children. The crimes included sodomy and other lewd acts, as well as providing alcohol to minors and possessing indecent photographs. These charges were based on incidents that occurred in McCurtain County. During the pretrial, the State wanted to use photographs found on Porton's computer as evidence. However, the judge ruled that these photographs could not be used in court. The State believed that the photos were important to prove their case against Porton. They argued that the photographs showed a pattern of behavior that related to the crimes he was charged with. The State appealed the judge's decision to keep the photographs out of the trial. They said that their ability to prove Porton's guilt was greatly affected without this evidence. The law allows the State to appeal when evidence is excluded if it is believed to be in the interests of justice. However, the court found that the State did not show that the photographs were a critical part of the evidence needed to prove the case. Because of this, the appeal was denied, meaning the photographs would not be part of the trial. The ruling pointed out that the trial judge had looked closely at the case and had reasonable grounds to decide that the photographs were not relevant or that their potential to cause unfair problems outweighed their usefulness as evidence. One judge disagreed with the majority opinion. He felt that the photographs should not have been excluded because they could help prove Porton's motive and intent regarding the charges. He argued that evidence of other actions taken by the defendant should have been considered, especially since there were connections between the photographs and the charges against Porton. In summary, the court upheld the lower court's decision to exclude the evidence, impacting the State's case against Porton, while one judge believed this decision was incorrect and would have allowed the evidence.

F-2005-716

Post author:Mili Ahosan
Post published:July 3, 2007
Post category:F

In OCCA case No. F-2005-716, #Smith appealed his conviction for #Indecent or Lewd Acts with Child Under Sixteen. In an unpublished decision, the court decided #to reverse and remand for a new trial. #n dissented. In this case, Smith was found guilty of committing indecent acts with a young girl named T.C., who was ten years old at the time of the incidents. It all began when T.C. and her family traveled to Oklahoma due to the death of her grandmother. While in Oklahoma, Smith befriended T.C.'s parents and was allowed to spend time with T.C. while her parents worked. One day, Smith took T.C. to a swimming pool. Several women observed Smith engaging in suspicious behavior with T.C., such as fondling her and kissing her inappropriately. They felt that T.C. looked scared and uncomfortable. After watching the situation for about two hours, they called the police. The police spoke to T.C. and her parents, but at first, T.C. denied that anything inappropriate had happened. However, during the police investigation, Smith made troubling statements, including mentioning that he had previously been convicted of a similar crime against his own daughter. During the trial, T.C. testified that she thought of Smith like a grandfather and said he never touched her inappropriately at the pool. However, the other witnesses provided consistent testimonies about what they observed. The jury ultimately believed the eyewitnesses over T.C.'s denial of the abuse. Smith's defense argued that the evidence was not sufficient, and they challenged whether the trial was fair. They also raised several legal points regarding sentencing and the inclusion of evidence from past crimes. The court agreed with some of these points, particularly regarding the trial's fairness and the admissibility of evidence related to Smith's prior convictions. In the end, the court reversed Smith's conviction and ordered a new trial because they found issues in how evidence and instructions were handled during the original trial. Smith will now have another chance to contest the accusations against him.

S-2006-117

Post author:Mili Ahosan
Post published:August 29, 2006
Post category:S

In OCCA case No. S-2006-117, the husband and wife, Larrie and Theresa Moyers, appealed their case concerning charges related to a scheme to defraud the State. They were originally indicted for multiple counts including conspiracy, bribery, and tax violations. Larrie had previously entered a guilty plea and received a sentence. Later, he sought to modify this sentence, which the court granted by reducing his time in prison and adding conditions like probation and treatment. After this modification, the State brought new charges against both Larrie and Theresa. They argued that these charges were unfair and retaliatory, claiming it was revenge for the sentence modification. The trial court agreed, finding that the new charges were indeed retaliatory and dismissed them, stating that this was against due process rights. The State then appealed this dismissal. The court reviewed whether it could hear the appeal and decided it could, as the dismissal was tied to constitutional issues. Ultimately, they affirmed the lower court's decision, agreeing that the State's action against the Moyers was inappropriate. The decision was published and affirmed the dismissal of all charges against them, maintaining the previous ruling of retaliation based on the lawful actions taken by Larrie Moyers to modify his sentence.

F-2005-232

Post author:Mili Ahosan
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.