Oh, what a beautiful morning where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain....
"Tulsa sheriff charged in killing case; Volunteer shot unarmed man accidentally" by Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton and Richard Pérez-Peña New York Times October 01, 2015
TULSA, Okla. — A grand jury indicted the sheriff of Tulsa County on misconduct charges Wednesday, and the sheriff’s lawyer said he will step down, six months after a volunteer reserve deputy accidentally shot and killed an unarmed man during an arrest.
The grand jury recommended Sheriff Stanley Glanz be removed from office after more than 26 years following an investigation prompted by the shooting of Eric C. Harris by the reserve deputy, Robert C. Bates, who was a friend of the sheriff’s. The panel charged Glanz with two misdemeanors, for refusing to release a 2009 report that raised questions about Bates’s fitness for duty and for false expense reimbursement.
Critics have charged that Glanz broke the rules to allow an unqualified friend to operate largely unsupervised as an armed reserve deputy, endangering the lives of others, and intimidated the people under him into going along.
Bates, 74, an insurance broker who worked briefly as a police officer in the 1960s, led the sheriff’s last reelection campaign and had donated expensive equipment to the sheriff’s office, including vehicles.
He has been charged with second-degree manslaughter involving culpable negligence in the death of Harris, one in a string of fatal shootings of African-Americans by white law enforcement officials that drew national attention.
At a hearing Wednesday in a packed courtroom in Tulsa County District Court, the indictment was made public and Scott Wood, a lawyer for Glanz, 73, said he would resign.
--more--"
Ever since then the case has been immobilized.
Related:
"Oklahoma has the highest rate of prison homicides in the nation, with state inmates killed at a rate more than three times the national average, according to figures from the Bureau of Justice Statistics."
Okla.’s executions on hold after mix-up
Commandments monument moving from Okla. capitol
Ten Commandments monument in Okla. quietly removed at night
4 killed as car plows into Okla. homecoming parade
Driver in Okla. parade crash faces murder charges
Judge orders psychological tests for woman in parade crash
Also see: Toddler still on life support after Oxford cement truck crash
