Criminal Law
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 »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 »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 »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 »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 »Oklahoma Supreme Court Averts Constitutional Crisis
In an expedited ruling that averted a looming constitutional crisis, the Oklahoma Supreme Court on April 23, 2014, reversed a district court decision related to secrecy surrounding execution procedures. The decision means Oklahoma may execute two convicted killers without triggering a constitutional showdown. A looming constitutional crisis emerged when attorneys asked a district court to […] Read more »Oklahoma Constitutional Crisis Imminent!
Constitutional Showdown Looms Over Oklahoma Death Penalty Secrecy In the virtual shadows of modern-day gallows, Oklahoma’s two highest courts in April, 2014 became embroiled in a historic constitutional showdown. The top civil court stayed two pending executions after the top criminal court twice refused to order the executions stayed. Then, within hours of a scheduled […] Read more »Oklahoma Lawmakers Take Aim at Privateers; Tennessee Targets 'Voluntary' Roadside Stops
Americans’ Fourth Amendment right “to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures” ranks among the most zealously protected freedoms we enjoy in the United States. Yet an ever-growing list of exceptions appears to erode those fundamental freedoms. Lawmakers in both Oklahoma and Tennessee recently voted to stop some […] Read more »Oklahoma Courts: How to Save Text Messages for Legal Purposes
The spread of smartphone technology has dramatically increased the frequency with which people use text messages for legal purposes in Oklahoma civil cases and criminal trials. Yet litigants who need to show the contents of text messages in court can face several hurdles. The simplest hurdle is often merely preserving the contents of text messages. […] Read more »Bar Association Alleges Oklahoma District Attorney Withheld Evidence
The Oklahoma Bar Association (OBA) has lodged a disciplinary complaint against District 18 District Attorney Farley Ward alleging he withheld information from defense attorneys in a 2009 first-degree murder case. The Bar has also filed a complaint against defense attorney Rex Starr, who defended Clinton R. Potts in the 2009 case. Potts was convicted for […] Read more »Oklahoma Supreme Court Throws Wrench in Intoxilyzer 8000 Breathalyzer
A January 28, 2014, Oklahoma Supreme Court decision makes it difficult — if not impossible — for the state to continue revoking drivers licenses based on evidence provided by the current generation of breath analysis machinery. Currently anyone arrested for DUI in Oklahoma who blows a .08 or more (or refuses to blow) has their […] Read more »Oklahoma Speedtrap Law Ensnares Stringtown Cops
In Stringtown, Oklahoma, south of McAlister, city police are on the job – but they are not allowed to patrol highways looking for traffic violations in the town of 400. That could include US Hwy. 69 and Oklahoma Highway 43, dubbed Reba McEnteire Ave. through parts of Stringtown. Stringtown cops found themselves on the wrong […] Read more »Miami Cop Faces Obstruction Beef, Hubby Fired as Porter Top Cop
Obstruction charges and internal investigations sent local cops to the bench in two Oklahoma towns while unhappy officials in another fired their only remaining officer. A newly hired Wagoner police officer on Jan. 9, 2013, pleaded not guilty to obstructing a police officer. Wagoner County Sheriff’s investigators allege Sgt. Shalyn Jay surrendered the wrong cell […] Read more »Memphis Man's Social Media "Like" Leads to Arrest on Restraining Order
A Memphis man has reportedly been arrested for “liking” a photo posted on a social media site depicting a woman who had a restraining order against him. The fact that a person can be charged with violating a protective order for responding to an implicit invitation to “like” a social media post seems strange enough. […] Read more »Steps in a Criminal Case: Misdemeanors in Tulsa County District Court
When you’re arrested and charged with one or more misdemeanors in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the arrest itself can seem like punishment. You might be handcuffed, detained, photographed, deprived of personal property, and even jailed. You could be yelled at and likely verbally accused by uniformed officers. The experience is sometimes traumatic, but arrest is just one […] Read more »Flawed Oklahoma DUI Procedures Could Bring Refunds in License Revocations
Thousands of drivers who paid fees to have their drivers licenses reinstated after Oklahoma DUI arrests could be in line to receive refunds from the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety. The revocations could also be expunged from their records if they prevail in a class-action lawsuit filed in Tulsa County District Court Dec. 2. 2013. […] Read more »
