Tulsa Attorney Blog
Grand Jury Calls for Standardized Oklahoma Giglio Policies
No Rogers County Officials Indicted An Oklahoma grand jury has recommended that the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office draft model policies to guide prosecutors’ handling of information that could assist criminal defendants. The recommendation was the most substantive result of a grand-jury investigation into alleged wrongdoing among Rogers County prosecutors and police. The clock ran out […] Read more »Surge in Oklahoma Prison Intakes Did Not Ease Tulsa Jail Crowding
Jail Population Trending Upward A move to transfer prison-bound inmates from county jails has not reduced ongoing overcrowding at Tulsa County jail. The last time the Tulsa jail population dipped below the jail’s rated capacity of 1,700 inmates was more than a month ago, on July 18, 2014. While Tulsa County jail remains crowded, inmates […] Read more »Police Misconduct in Oklahoma: Tulsa Officer Charged with Murder
Misconduct Makes Cop’s Testimony Unreliable When police officers step on the wrong side of the law, the personal tragedy in some ways resembles that of any other person in trouble with the law. Regardless of an urge to gloat among those – including criminal defense attorneys – who often engage cops in legal battles, it […] Read more »Rogers County Sheriff, Other Officials Remain Mired in Controversies
Intrigue among Rogers County officials just never seems to fade away. One might think a landslide defeat in which incumbent District Attorney Janice Steidley received a meager 13 percent of votes in the Republican primary race would have dampened allegations and counter allegations. Not so. The widely circulated allegations of 2013 sprang up around claims […] Read more »Rogers County Cops and Courts Controversies Timeline
Wirth Law Office compiled a timeline of Rogers County controversies that include allegations of lying by police, a grand jury investigation of the DA, public officials libel lawsuits against other officials and the local newspaper, and the landslide electoral defeat of the Rogers County District Attorney. Read more »Client Review: Tulsa Child Custody Lawyer
A father explains how he personally benefited from the help of a Wirth Law Office Tulsa child custody lawyer in his family law case. Read more »Does Oklahoma Attorney-Client Privilege Protect Jailhouse Phone Calls?
The New York Times recently reported that prosecutors in a federal extortion case had claimed a right to use as evidence jailhouse e-mails a defendant sent to his attorney. The federal Bureau of Prisons routinely monitors inmates’ e-mails delivered via a prison e-mail system. Among pre-trial discovery materials prosecutors provided, defense attorneys found e-mails a […] Read more »Client Review: Oklahoma Auto Accident Attorney
With the help of Wirth Law Office's Tulsa Ok auto accident attorneys, a Muskogee woman got much needed compensation after a costly auto accident. Read more »Gay Marriage Case Clouds Oklahoma Same-Sex Divorce Law
As of July 18, 2014, federal courts have made it clear: Oklahoma’s prohibition on gay marriage is unconstitutional. The 10th Circuit Court affirmed a lower court’s decision that cited a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court case, U. S. v. Windsor (2013), as the basis for striking Oklahoma’s ban on same-sex marriage. The decision was only a […] Read more »New Oklahoma No-Fault Divorce Law Mandates Parenting Classes
A new Oklahoma divorce law requires some divorcing parents of minor children to take a new class about the impact of divorce on children. Read more »Published Wirth Law Office Case Spurs Change of Law
Expungement In Oklahoma Made Easier Nobody wants to lose in court – especially when a case goes all the way to an appellate court. Wirth Law Office was disappointed when the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals ruled against us in a 2012 case where we tested the language of an expungment law. Fortunately, our loss […] Read more »Expungement in Oklahoma Will Get a Little Easier
It will soon be a little easier for some people to get court records sealed after a misdemeanor or non-violent felony conviction in Oklahoma. A bill Gov. Mary Falin signed in May, 2014 and which is set to take effect Nov. 1, 2014 reduces several requirements for expungement under Oklahoma law. Even if you have […] Read more »Cell Phone Searches Require Warrants, U.S. Supreme Court Rules
Landmark Decision Advances Digital Privacy In a decision that could effect countless ongoing cases, the United States Supreme Court has determined that police cannot search an arrested suspect’s cell phone without a warrant. The unanimous June 25, 2014 decision was immediately hailed as a landmark contribution to digital era privacy rights. The court heard arguments […] Read more »You Might Need a Good Attorney If: Your Defense Lawyer Becomes Your Prosecutor
Share this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI6o4sQ1ORo&list=UU4E-wbu1ZAPgFvsWIG2y8hw&feature=share Video transcript: As an attorney I often come across people who should have hired a good attorney and failed to do so. It makes me want to come out and tell you of all the circumstances out there where you might need a good attorney. For instance if you are hauled […] Read more »Rogers County Sheriff's Spy Cam Highlights Open Fields Doctrine in Oklahoma
A sheriff sneaks into your farm field in the early hours of the morning to plant a camera. Is it legal or not? The question came up in Rogers County when the office of Sheriff Scott Walton apparently placed a camera somewhere on 400 acres of farmland owned by county commissioner Kirt Thaker. Walton said […] Read more »Oklahoma Misdemeanors Further Defined in Expungement Case
In the language of law, it is called expunction or expungement. In popular parlance, it is often called having your court records sealed. In Oklahoma, a person arrested for a crime or convicted on criminal charges in certain circumstances can petition a court to seal their records. One of those circumstances involves a misdemeanor conviction […] Read more »Oklahoma Supreme Court Cancels Online Court Records Contract
Some Internet data transfer speeds now approach the speed of light. Data transfer in Oklahoma courts is not nearly so fast.
Oklahoma courts' efforts to provide online access to statewide court records were moving at a snail's pace event before they came to a full stop on June 9, 2014. Read more »Girl in State Custody Begs Judge 'Let Me Go Home'
According to a Massachusetts judge, the parents of a Connecticut teenager did terrible things to their daughter. First, they took her to the hospital seeking medical treatment for a bad case of the flu. Then, when state workers seized custody of the teen, the parents talked publicly about the state’s seizure of their teenaged child. […] Read more »A Dirty Oklahoma Home Might Not Indicate Child Neglect
Parents’ housekeeping skills often become the subject of debate in child custody cases. An Oklahoma Child Protective Services employee or an embattled spouse might argue that pet hair from household pets, the smell of farm animals, dusty surfaces and – especially – mice or bugs are evidence of child neglect. A new study by Johns […] Read more »Client Review: Tulsa Car Accident Lawyer
Wirth Law Office's Tulsa car accident lawyer helped get fair compensation for a woman injured in a Tulsa auto accident that resulted from a driver texting while driving. Read more »How to Voluntarily Transfer Child Custody in Oklahoma
Oklahoma Child Custody Can Now Be Delegated Without a Court Order A new Oklahoma law adopted in 2014 now allows parents to sign voluntary agreements that transfer custody of a child to another person. The non-judicial delegation of parental custody by power of attorney can last as little as 24 hours or as long as […] Read more »Even the Condemned Have Access to Oklahoma Courts
The Oklahoma Supreme Court eventually upheld the execution secrecy law. In the process, the court established that a person condemned to die still has a right to approach Oklahoma courts. Read more »Client Review: Tulsa Guardianship Attorney
With the help of a Tulsa guardianship attorney at Wirth Law Office, the mother of a disabled veteran secured guardianship of her son so he could get the care he needed. Read more »Tulsa County Jail Dangerously Overcrowded – Again
Dangerous overcrowding continues at Tulsa County’s David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center, according to online jail records. With 1,751 inmates in custody on Monday, April 28, 2014, the Tulsa County lockup housed 37 more residents than the jail’s maximum rated capacity. The recent Monday-morning population was about 100 inmates more than than the jail can […] Read more »Oklahoma Corrections Official Says Private Prisons Immoral
A former director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections says private prisons in Oklahoma are scheming to keep people behind bars so they can increase corporate profits. The lifelong corrections employee unloaded on the private prison industry in the most improbable of places. In an unlikely liaison between a career corrections official and the American […] Read more »
