An Assistant District Attorney’s dramatic reenactment using a doll during a closing arguments was way over the top, even for Oklahoma’s often prosecution-friendly Court of Criminal Appeals.
The court overturned a defendant’s life-without-parole sentence because of the prosecutor’s theatrical behavior. Although it was not published as precedent, the case summarizes standards that my be used to identify prosecutorial misconduct during arguments by attorneys in Oklahoma criminal trials..
In a stinging review of Oklahoma criminal procedure, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals Bemoaned Oklahoma’s short appellate deadlines and lack of a prison mailbox rule for computing deadlines pegged to dates court documents are issued.
Two top courts in Oklahoma’s bifurcated court system have published contrary opinions about whether criminal court deadlines include weekends or holidays. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals maintains a legislative mandate requires it to include count all calendar days in deadlines, even if the court is closed on a day of a deadline. The Oklahoma Supreme Court earlier published an opinion declaring its business-day rules govern some criminal court deadline procedures.
Tulsa traffic ticket attorney posted this following distance animated simulator to demonstrate what the two second rule for safe following distance looks like in highway driving conditions.
The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals acknowledged there were errors in the trial that sent Joey Lynn Smith to prison for life after a hit-and-run accident. The errors the court acknowledged – and others errors the Oklahoma criminal defense attorneys alleged on appeal – are only part of the story. For a hit-and-run case, the prosecution essentially argued an assault and battery with a deadly weapon case.
Tulsa law firms can use the Court of Criminal Appeals decision in State ex rel Pruitt v Steidley as a handy cheat sheet for rules of statutory construction, Oklahoma style. The court summarized Oklahoma case law as it applies to interpreting statutes that otherwise might lead to contrary or ambiguous conclusions.
An Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals tailgating opinion gives police a basis to stop almost any driver on suspicion of following too closely. The opinion is an abrupt reversal of an opposite decision just 19 months earlier that had said a two-second rule for following too closely does not provide police an objective basis for reasonable suspicion. A Tulsa traffic ticket lawyer explains…
The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals decided in a March 20, 2015 opinion that adults charged for crimes committed in their youth must be tried and sentenced as adults. Recent Supreme Court decisions, however, suggest youthful status is related to the age and mental status of youth at the time of their crimes.
Decision Could Affect Oklahoma DUI Prosecutions The state’s highest criminal appeals court has driven another nail in the coffin of the Intoxilyzer 8000 breathalyzer used in Oklahoma driving under the influence cases. Unfortunately, this robocop machine might be counted among the undead. Here is why. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals on Sept. 11, 2014 […]
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.
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 […]
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 […]
