Oklahoma Assault Charge Amended to Murder after Wife Dies
An elderly man was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in Oklahoma after allegedly stabbing his wife of fifty years as many as twenty times. However, after the woman died approximately a week after the attack, the charge has been amended to first degree murder.
On December 14, Rexford Earl Hilburn, 71, of Shawnee, allegedly stabbed his wife fourteen to twenty times in the bathroom of their home after accusing her of having an affair. Linda Carol Hilburn, 67, was able to call emergency officers for help. When police arrived, they found Rexford Hilburn standing alone in the back of a room.
The Hilburns' family members say the attack is completely out of character for Mr. Hilburn, with his son-in-law calling him "the kindest man I've ever known." The couple's granddaughter says that her grandfather began having "severe emotional issues" this summer, including mood swings, stuttering, and "[making] stories up." While he physicians had not yet found a diagnosis for Rexford Hilburn, he was on medication, and family members say he changed medication just before the attack.
Rexford Hilburn has no history of Oklahoma domestic violence, and in fact, has no criminal record at all. His Oklahoma criminal lawyer will likely be able to use Hilburn's medical history in conjunction with the lack of criminal record to build a defense. Further showing that the assault was out of character and unexpected is Mrs. Hilburn's reaction to her husband's actions. Even while hospitalized prior to her death, she was concerned for her husband's well-being, concerned about his safety in jail and wanting to make sure that he had his medication.
Pottawatomie County District Attorney Richard Smotherman says that "justice demands" a first degree murder charge for Rexford Hilburn, "regardless of the circumstances."
Rape Case In Tulsa County
Slane, Phillips and Bailey was able to have a Rape 2 case against our client dismissed today in Tulsa County, Oklahoma.
Motor Vehicle Felony in Canadian County
Our client was charged in Oklahoma with Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle. We were successful in having the case dismissed in Canadian County Court.
Judge Rules Against Infant Murder Trial; Prosecutors Appeal
Janette Mickelboro, 23, was arrested September 15, 2010, for the death of her infant son on August 20. She has remained jailed on $250,000 bond since her arrest on a first degree murder complaint. However, a Tulsa County judge ruled recently that there was not enough evidence to order a first degree murder trial for the young mother, a decision which prosecutors have appealed. A hearing in the appeal has been set for January 15, 2011.
The arrest came after Hunter Warner, just shy of four months old, was found dead in a bassinet by his father. Later, his mother, Janette Mickelboro admitted to authorities that she had tied a receiving blanket around the baby's head in order to hold his pacifier in place before putting him in a bouncy seat and leaving the room. She says that when she returned to check on her son "several hours later," she found him "stiff and cold." Rather than contacting authorities or seeking emergency medical care for her son, she admits, Mickelboro placed her son's body in a bassinet and left for work, leaving the dead infant for her partner, the boy's father, to find.
In order for someone to be found guilty of first degree murder, prosecutors must prove that the person killed someone else "with malice aforethought." This means that the killing was intentional and premeditated, or that it was committed recklessly with extreme disregard for human life.
Tulsa County Special Judge Allen Klein ruled that, in the Mickelboro case, prosecutors presented insufficent evidence for a first degree murder trial. The autopsy report in Hunter Warner's death listed the cause of death as unknown, and a report of the findings states that “no specific findings were noted at autopsy that are specific or conclusive for suffocation.” However, at Mickelboro's preliminary hearing, the medical examiner in the case testified that an airway obstruction causing suffocation was more likely than not the cause of the infant's death.
Furthermore, several witnesses claim that they had seen previously seen Mickelboro wrap a blanket around her baby's head to hold a pacifier in place, and that they had warned her that it was a dangerous practice, cautioning her against further such action. Prosecutor's contend that Mickelboro's knowledge of the dangers associated with wrapping an infant's head in a blanket makes her actions negligent, reckless, and abusive to the point of becoming first degree murder.
Mickelboro's Oklahoma criminal defense attorney calls the baby's death "an unfortunate and tragic accident," and asserts that his client is not guilty of either first degree murder or Oklahoma domestic abuse. Rather, Mickelboro was a young, uninformed mother who did not understand the consequences her actions could have.
If the judge's ruling is upheld at the January appeal hearing, first degree murder charges against Mickelboro will likely be dismissed.
Oklahoma Child Sex Investigation Nets Eleven Arrests
Eleven people from three families were arrested over the last two months in connection with an Oklahoma child molestation investigation of what police are calling a "sex compound" in Logan County. Four people were arrested in October, and the remaining seven were arrested last week on charges ranging from enabling child abuse to first-degree rape in Oklahoma.
Police say the investigation began after an anonymous tip to a Department of Human Services hotline. The alleged sexual assaults took place on a piece of property in Logan County that housed several trailer homes. A convicted Oklahoma sex offender, who was charged in 2008 with failing to register, lived on the property. Another of the arrested individuals was already on probation for sexual battery.
Several of those charged in connection with the child sexual abuse were accused of knowing about the abuse but failing to report it; others were alleged to have failed to properly supervise children in the presence of a known sex offender.
Charged with enabling child sexual abuse and various other offenses are:
- Ed Whitlock, Sr., 64
- Joyce Rushing, 56
- Tammy Matthews, 37
- Isaac Henry Juzan, 28
- Alice Juzan
Those charged with Oklahoma sex offense include:
- Ed Whitlock, Jr., 22 - second degree rape
- Larry Leon Alderson, 48 - lewd acts with a minor under 16
- Penzy McCoy - sexual battery
- George Hankinson, 69 - first degree rape, forcible oral sodomy, and lewd molestation
Two juveniles were arrested for sexual abuse of a child, but were not identified by the Logan County Sheriff's Department. One of the arrested teens is a 14-year-old boy police say was raped by two men. The sheriff's office did not report how many victims were involved in the sexual abuse, but did say that no further arrests are expected in the case.
As of last Tuesday, all of the adults remained in jail with bonds ranging from $40,000 to $100,000.
Child Molestation Case in McCurtain County, OK
Our client was charged with Lewd Acts with a Minor, Assault & Battery, and public intoxication. Today, the Oklahoma Criminal Defense team at Slane, Phillips and Bailey was able to have the case against our client and all 3 charges dismissed in McCurtain County Court.
7 Year Sentence for Driver in Fatal Oklahoma City DUI Crash at IHOP
A 26-year-old Oklahoma woman was sentenced last week to seven years in prison after she pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter on November 1. Nina D. McCollom's conviction is the result of an April 3, 2009, fatal Oklahoma City DUI accident, in which she drove her vehicle into an IHOP, killing diner Chris Pitts, 36. Pitts was eating at the restaurant with his girlfriend when McCollom crashed her SUV through the wall of the Northwest Oklahoma City IHOP, pinning Pitts against the table. He died en route to the hospital.
After the crash, McCollom told police that her brakes had failed. However, police found no evidenced of mechanical failure of the vehicle. McCollom, who then admitted to having "five beers," was found to have a blood alcohol concentration of 0.21, nearly three times the legal limit for DUI in Oklahoma.
At McCollom's sentencing, the victim's mother requested that the driver be sentenced to 36 years in prison--the length of her son's life. However, Oklahoma County District Judge Kenneth Watson, a former Oklahoma criminal defense attorney, sentenced McCollom to 7 years in prison followed by 18 years of probation. Furthermore, McCollom's driver's license will be suspended for 25 years, a move which the judge says will "provide for the safety of the community." McCollom must also pay restitution to the victim's family and $2,500 to the Oklahoma Victims Compensation Fund.
Chris Pitts is survived by a daughter who was 9 years old at the time of the crash. A lawsuit against McCollom and the bar at which she had been drinking before the accident was settled for $1.1 million, with the majority of the settlement going to Pitts' daughter.
At her sentencing, Nina McCollom said that the crash was a "horrible accident" and that she had not realized she was intoxicated the night of the fatal DUI.
Parole Board Votes to Commute Sentences of Two Oklahomans
Last week, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted to commute the sentences of two Oklahoma men convicted of separate crimes.
In the first case, the state Parole Board voted unanimously to commute Richard Sipe's 60-year-sentence for manufacturing methamphetamine to the seven years he has already served. Sipe was convicted in 2003 of aggravated manufacturing of methamphetamine in Oklahoma. His 60-year sentence on the Oklahoma drug offense was the states most severe sentence for Oklahoma drug manufacture. The Oklahoma Department of Corrections reports that, of the nine people currently serving time on a primary offense of drug manufacture, the average sentence is 24 years. Sipe was arrested along with another person in 2002. His counterpart struck a plea agreement and was sentenced to eight years and released in 2005. Sipe, who took his chances with a jury, was sentenced to 60 years for his drug offense. Sipe's Oklahoma drug defense attorney says that the Parole Board saw clearly that Sipe's sentence was extreme.
Although his aggravated manufacturing sentence has been commuted to time served, Richard Sipe will remain in prison, serving a consecutive 10-year sentence for possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony and failure to affix a tax stamp to a controlled drug.
OKC Man Charged with Sexual Battery in Babysitting Con
A preliminary hearing has been set for January 5, 2011, for an Oklahoma City man accused of acting severely autistic and wearing diapers in order to con women to care for him for his sexual gratification. Mark Anthony Richards, Jr., 21, admitted that his actions were "for a sexual purpose."
Richards was charged in October with felony sexual battery in Oklahoma County after he grabbed the breast of a caregiver's 18-year-old daughter. He was also charged with seven counts of outraging public decency after his babysitters reported to police that he would become sexually aroused when they changed his diapers.
Allegedly, Richards found victims of his bizarre babysitting con through online Craigslist ads. In a case from September, the 18-year-old woman whom Richards was later to grope, placed an ad online. A man responded saying that his 19-year-old severely autistic son, "Alex," needed care. The man stated that his son still wore diapers, drank from a bottle, and used a pacifier. The young woman's mother decided to care for "Alex" instead of letting her daughter. Police believe Richards was pretending to be both the father and Alex.
The woman who cared for Richards told police that he would become sexually aroused when she would change his diaper and that he would frequently get up and run around the house as she attempted to change him. One night, he groped her daughter's breast, an action which would lead to his Oklahoma sexual battery charge. She advised the 18-year-old that Richards "didn't know what he was doing." However, she became suspicious of his motives after Richards's repeated stays with her family.
Richards admitted to police that the September incident is not the only time he conned a babysitter into caring for him and changing his diapers in order to achieve sexual stimulation. He said that in April 2010 he convinced another woman that he was autistic and needed care.
Richards's charges of outraging public decency are the result of tricking the babysitters into changing his diapers.
Richards is currently on probation for a 2008 arson charge. His mother says that Richards is mentally ill and needs psychiatric treatment rather than incarceration for his Oklahoma County sex crimes.
Oklahoma Domestic Violence Conviction Leads to Suicide
Two cases of Oklahoma domestic violence made local headlines last week. In one case, a man killed himself after being convicted in Ottawa County District Court of child abuse. In the second, an Oklahoma City mother pleaded guilty to multiple counts of child abuse and child neglect, bringing closure to a case of child abuse so extreme it attracted national attention in 2009.
Christopher William Good, 24, was convicted of Oklahoma child abuse last Friday after a jury deliberated for four hours. Good was not present when the verdict was delivered and an Ottawa County judge sentenced him to eleven years in prison and issued a warrant for his arrest. Instead, Good was at his mother's home, talking with his Oklahoma criminal defense lawyer, who was trying to convince him to turn himself in to authorities. Later, sheriff's deputies and firefighters responding to an emergency call found Good dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Good's conviction was the result of a 2006 incident in which he was accused of severely beating his then-girlfriend's 15-month-old daughter. The girl, now five years old, had cigarette burns, a broken wrist, and fractured skull, and authorities said she was "bruised from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet." The girl suffered brain damage as a result of the abuse, and now lives with her father. Her mother, Elizabeth Dawn Crafton, 25, was sentenced in 2007 to twenty years in prison for enabling child abuse.
Also gaining media attention last week was LaRhonda Marie McCall, 38, who pleaded guilty to thirty-three counts of child abuse and three counts of child neglect in the culmination of a case of child abuse so severe it made national headlines. In 2009, 15-year-old Bernell McCall (now 16), ran away from home and told police he spent most of his time locked in a closet. The teen told police of several horrifying incidents of domestic abuse in Oklahoma City at the hands of his mother and an accomplice, Steve V. Hamilton, 40.
LaRhonda McCall admitted to locking the boy in a closet for extended periods of time and to hitting him with boards, cables, and extension cords. She also said she cut her son with a knife, restrained him with duct tape, made him stand in snow and ice, set fire to him, choked him, and restrained him and poured sugar over him so that insects would bite him.
McCall and Hamilton, who pleaded guilty Nov. 24, face sentencing on January 20, 2011. It is likely that McCall will receive multiple life sentences.