The alleged assault occured at a birthday party on August 28.  According to the parents of the birthday girl, Hinkle and her daughter showed up uninvited to the party and started verbally assaulting their daughter because they were upset that Hinkle's daughter had not been invited to the party.  Hinkle then allegedly told her daughter, "Stand up for yourself and do something," and the 9-year-old punched the 12-year-old girl in the face, giving her a black eye.  The birthday girl's mother then lunged for Hinkle, but she was restrained by her husband.

The alleged victim's father, Shawn Hurst, said the incident was the result of longstanding problems between the two girls.  According to Hurst, the problems began when Hinkle's daughter accused his daughter of bullying her on the school bus.  However, he claims that the girl's accusations were false, and that video surveillance on the bus showed no wrongdoing on the part of his daughter. Hurst said the families used to live in the same neighborhood, but that the Hursts moved as a result of the ongoing problems with the Hinkles.  Hurst told reporters that he is disappointed that Hinkle won't face state charges, but that he has not yet decided whether to file a civil suit.

Gina Hinkle's Oklahoma defense attorney disputes Hurst's story.  He claims that Hinkle and her daughter were invited guests at the birthday party, and that the younger child decided to go to the story despite allegedly being bullied by the older girl.  After they arrived, things took a turn for the worse, and Hurst's wife, the mother of the birthday girl, tried to assault Hinkle.

Although no state charges will be filed, according to Oklahoma City police, city trespassing tickets are still pending against Gina Hinkle, and her daughter is still facing charges of assault and battery in Oklahoma City.

The case began on May 19, 2009, when Ersland shot a masked robber inside a south Oklahoma City pharmacy.  Ersland shot the intruder in the head and then fired five more times into the assailants body.  The robber was 16 years old.  Prosecutors filed the first degree murder charge in Oklahoma County after surveillance video showed that the first shot hit the would-be robber, Antwun Parker, in the head.  They allege that the first shot incapacitated Parker, and that Ersland was wrong to continue to fire the lethal shots.

According to Dr. Collie M. Trant, the chief medical examiner at the time of the killing, the first shot was non-fatal.  However, Trant was fired earlier this year, and Dr. Chai Choi was asked to review the case in order to testify.  According to Ersland's Oklahoma criminal defense team, Dr. Choi's medical opinion conflicts with Dr. Trant's, meaning that the first shot was indeed fatal, and that the killing of Antwun Parker by Jerome Ersland was justifiable homicide.   Ersland's defense lawyers met with Dr. Choi and told the judge that "she believes Dr. Trant was incorrect in his finding that the first shot was nonfatal and that she would have never classified the first wound as a nonfatal gunshot wound. Dr. Choi also said that she had consulted with some of her colleagues at the medical examiner's office and their opinion was also that the first gunshot was not nonfatal."

While the defense argues that a fatal first shot means that Ersland cannot be found guilty of murder for the remaining five shots, the prosecution maintains that the case is still valid.  The Oklahoma District Attorney contends, "Ultimately,  Antwun Parker's heart was beating, he was breathing and he was alive when Jerome Ersland pumped the five additional rounds in his chest."  Prosecutors argue that the defense's motion to dismiss is based on semantics rather than a truly new medical opinion.

An Oklahoma County judge is expected to consider the request for dismissal of the murder charge at a hearing later this month.

• Victim's Protective Order - DISMISSED
• 2nd Degree Burglury:
  Application to Revoke Defendent's Probation - DISMISSED
• Driving Under the Influence (DUI):
  Application to Revoke Defendent's Probation - DISMISSED

Because of these violent crimes in Oklahoma, Bosse has been charged in McClain County District Court with three counts of first degree murder and one count of first degree arson.

The night before the bodies were found, Griffin called police to her home; Bosse was present and told police that he had been dating the woman for about two weeks.  While an affidavit from the incident does not list the reason for the call, an investigating officer who interviewed Bosse after the bodies were discovered the next day noticed injuries to the suspect's arm and fist that were consistent with a hole found punched in the wall of the victims' home.  The woman's call to police, the physical damage to her home, and Bosse's injuries seem to suggest Oklahoma domestic violence.

Bosse is also accused of  theft after police discovered that he sold the victim's televisions and entertainment items at Oklahoma City metro area pawn shops after the killings.

The defendant's next court date for the Oklahoma murder charges has not yet been scheduled.

• assault and battery with a dangerous weapon
• domestic abuse by strangulation
• domestic abuse assault and battery

All 3 counts were dismissed.

In addition, we were able to have separate cases of assault and battery and malicious destruction of property dismissed for 2 additional clients facing criminal charges in Oklahoma.

An Oklahoma County judge last week exemplified that outrage when she sentenced Herman Marzelo Vail Bailon, 34, to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the 2008 beating death of his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter.   Bailon pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and asked for a 30-year term at his sentencing, but the judge ruled that the severity of the child's injuries warranted a harsher sentence.  Judge Tammy Bass-LeSure said that a life sentence alone would have made Bailon eligible for parole when he was 70 years old; she felt that the attack was so violent that Bailon should never be released, and therefore sentenced him to life without parole.   Bailon's Oklahoma City defense attorney requested that the judge consider Bailon's poverty-stricken upbringing in war-torn Guatemala in her decision, but she was unmoved.

At the time of the incident, Bailon was watching his girlfriend's two young children, aged 2 and 3, and his own infant son at an Oklahoma City motel while his girlfriend was at work.  While she claimed to be working two jobs, Bailon's Oklahoma criminal lawyer alleges that there is evidence that she was actually seeing another man when she was supposedly at the second job.  Frustrated at being left to care for the children and suspicious of his girlfriend's neglect, Bailon admits he took out his anger on the children.  Bailon admitted to police that when the 2-year-old refused to eat lunch, he repeatedly slapped her before throwing her to the ground and kicking and stomping her.  The girl died from head injuries sustained in the attack.  Bailon said that, at the time of the abuse, he was in a rage and wasn't thinking; however, he admits that he abused the child at other times prior to her death.

The girl's mother, Elizabeth Nicole Guerrero, 29, is serving a 20-year sentence for permitting child abuse after admitting that she should not have left her children in Bailon's care, knowing he was a threat to them.

Prosecutors and criminal defense lawyers deal with horrifying crimes on a daily basis,  but none is more gut-wrenching than the death of a child at the hands of an abusive caregiver.  Both the prosecution and the defense bear the weighty responsibility of fighting to ensure that justice is served.

Witnesses report that Dartez showed up at her ex-boyfriend's home at the Hilltop Trailer Park in Midwest City, where she crashed her pickup into a car and a motorcycle in his driveway.  According to witness, her ex-boyfriend ran to her truck and yelled at her to stop.  Instead, she rammed her truck into him, flipping him into the air before he landed on the ground, striking his head and knocking him  unconscious.  He was treated and released from Integris Baptist Medical Center.

Dartez was jailed on a complaint of domestic-related assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.  Under Oklahoma law, the definition of a "dangerous weapon" is vague and can mean not only typical weapons such as guns and knives, but also any item a person may use to intentionally harm another--for example, a pickup truck.  While Oklahoma domestic violence complaints may be charged as either misdemeanors or felonies, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison on the first offense.

Dartez is no first-offender, however.  She has prior Midwest City arrests for assault and drug possession, and she was convicted of DUI in Oklahoma County in 2006.

Oklahoma's domestic violence rates are among the highest in the nation.  The Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS) reports that 5,500 adults and 2.650 children received domestic violence services.  They further report that intimate partner violence occurs in one out of every six couples in Oklahoma.  Drugs and alcohol are often a factor in such violence:  a 2000 report by the Oklahoma County Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) program found that 77 percent of men and 47 percent of women arrested on domestic violence charges tested positive for one or more drugs at the time of arrest.  In fatal domestic violence cases, 60% of perpetrators were known to habitually use alcohol or drugs, and 45% of victims and 41% of perpetrators were intoxicated at the time of the homicide.

These statistics may be startling to many people, but the Oklahoma criminal defense attorneys who deal with these cases on a regular basis are not surprised by the numbers of cases or the correlation between domestic violence and drug and alcohol abuse.

According to the complainant, Flores accused the woman of infidelity.  He then allegedly armed himself with a shotgun, choking her with one hand and holding the gun in the other.  She alleges Flores threatened to kill her, threw her to the floor, and kicked her.

Flores, a convicted felon, was ultimately arrested for domestic abuse by strangulation and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.  Additionally, police determined that the shotgun Flores was carrying was stolen, and he faces additional charges of possession of a stolen firearm and possession of a firearm after former conviction of a felony.

If convicted of the crimes of which he has been accused, Flores faces significant jail time.  Under Oklahoma law, domestic violence is a felony that carries a sentence of up to four years in prison and fines up to $5000.  Possession of a firearm while in the commission of a felony carries a sentence of up to 10 years for the first offense and up to 30 years for the second offense.  Possession of a firearm after former conviction of a felony also carries up to 10 years in prison.

Flores will need an experienced Oklahoma criminal lawyer to help him navigate the domestic violence and firearm possession charges that he will face.  An experienced domestic abuse lawyer will look at the facts of the case and the credibility of the witness, noting the false allegation of child abuse that originally called police to the residence.