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 majority of the Edmond arrests were for Oklahoma possession of marijuana or possession of drug paraphernalia.  Under Oklahoma law, first offense drug possession is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail.  Subsequent drug possession charges in Oklahoma are felonies.

According to Edmond police spokesperson Glynda Chu, the raids on the Rolling Green and Chapel Ridge apartments came as a result of resident complaints about drug trafficking and gang activity.  She would not comment on the possibility of future drug raids in the area, stating that the secrecy of such raids is the key to their effectiveness in rounding up arrests.

The Edmond drug raids were not the only cases last week that put the seemingly minor charge of Oklahoma marijuana possession in the spotlight.  A second grade teacher with Oklahoma City's Putnam City school district was arrested at her home in Yukon when police raided her home and found a pound of marijuana and two marijuana plants.  The teacher and her husband were arrested last Thursday on complaints of marijuana possession and cultivating marijuana in Oklahoma.  Even first-offense cultivation charges are prosecuted as a felony and can result in a life sentence.

While fourteen states and Washington, D.C. have enacted legalized medical marijuana laws, Oklahoma has no legal options for the use of marijuana.  All marijuana use in Oklahoma is considered "non-medical" and carries strict penalties.  While possession and cultivation for personal use seem minor, Oklahoma drug laws make the consequences of these actions quite severe.  If you have been charged with a drug crime, including possession, drug trafficking, and cultivation, contact an Oklahoma drug defense lawyer as soon as possible to help create a successful strategy for fighting your charges.

According to Melson's Oklahoma County white collar crime defense attorney, the embezzlement scheme was hatched in an attempt to pay gambling debts fueled by the defendant's gambling addiction.  Melson was accused of creating and registering a fraudulent entity called the Commissioner of the Land Office and opening a bank account for the false organization.  He would then intercept checks for the Land Office from the mail room and cash them for his personal use. 

Melson is scheduled to be sentenced on November 9.  Under statutes pertaining to embezzlement and fraud in Oklahoma, embezzlement of over $500 is a felony, punishable by restitution, fines of up to $10,000, and a maximum of 10 years in prison.

As a result of the scale of this embezzlement case, Governor Brad Henry signed House Bill 3026, which restructured the financial workings of the Commissioners of the Land Office to try to prevent further financial loss.  Payments to the Land Office are now processed directly at a bank.

White collar crime in Oklahoma includes embezzlement, fraud, and certain computer crimes, such as internet fraud and online credit fraud.  For those who suspect they may be involved in illegal commercial activity, the first step in protecting themselves from prosecution is to immediately cease that activity.  Next, individuals who may have had a part in white collar crime should consult an Oklahoma defense attorney for an evaluation of their case.  An experienced white collar crime defense lawyer can help you understand your options if charged and can negotiate with prosecutors for the best possible outcome to your case.

Joshua Durcho is charged with five counts of  first degree murder in the strangling deaths of his girlfriend, Summer Rust, 25, and her four children:  Kirsten and Autumn Rust, each 7 years old; Teagin Rust, 4; and Evynn Garas, 3.  He faces the death penalty if convicted.

While reports do not identify the conflict of interest in which Durcho's original attorneys were involved, conflict of interest within the Oklahoma County Bar Association’s Legal Aid Committee are fairly common.  Sometimes, a Legal Aid attorney will represent a client in one issue and will later be called to represent the client in a different matter.  If the first case provided privileged information that could impact the outcome of the second case, a conflict of interest arises.  This happens so frequently that the OCBA Legal Aid Committee established a "conflicts panel" to try to resolve such issues and refer clients to a pro bono attorney.

Durcho's original Oklahoma defense lawyers are a part of the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System.

• Those whose judgment and ability to consent are altered by temporary or permanent mental illness or "unsoundness of mind."
• Those under the supervision or legal custody of a state agency, county, municipality, or political subdivision who engage in sexual activity with an employee or contractor of the authority. 

For former Oklahoma teacher Shelly Fry, her sexual relationship with an 18-year-old student would not have been a crime had she not been a teacher.  Because Shelly Fry was a teacher, however, her relationship with the student--despite his age--resulted in an Oklahoma statutory rape charge.

Allegedly, Fry, a special education teacher, had consensual sex with the teenaged student in her home in September 2009.  When her husband discovered inappropriate text messages between Fry and the student, he confronted the student via telephone about the relationship.  The student told authorities that he ended the relationship after the confrontation.  Shortly thereafter, in October, Shelly Fry resigned from her postion at Hominy High School.  School officials report that Fry's resignation came before they had a chance to question her about the allegations.

Even though the teenager admits that his relationship with Fry was consensual, and even though he was legally of age to consent, Shelly Fry is charged with second degree rape in Oklahoma because the young man was her student at the time of the alleged affair.   

Shelly Fry turned herself in to authorities last week on a probable cause affidavit alleging second degree rape.  She was released on $10,000 bond.  Her next court date is August 27.

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.

After the accident, Sing was arrested and charged with DUI and first degree manslaughter.  He was released from jail after a judge reduced his bail.  Less than a year later, while Sing was free on bail, he was again arrested for DUI in Oklahoma when a police officer noticed his jeep veering across the center line.  The officer pulled over the vehicle, and Sing admitted that he had drunk several beers before driving.  The man was again arrested for DUI and again released on bail.

His freedom didn't last long.

On May 1, 2009, John Matthew Sing was arrested yet again for DUI--six months after his second Oklahoma DUI arrest and approximately a year and a half after he caused the fatal accident that killed his wife.   The arresting officer reported that, when Sing was arrested, he was so heavily intoxicated that he could not even walk without assistance.

In sentencing Sing after his first degree manslaughter conviction, an Oklahoma County judge considered the two subsequent DUI arrests.  Judge Jerry D. Bass commiserated with the defendant and the victim's family, saying that cases like Sing's are "sad, sad cases all around because [they leave] everybody hurt."  However, he noted that the two DUI arrests while Sing was out on bail showed no judgment on the part of the defendant.

Sing was sentenced to 13 years in prison for first degree manslaughter in the first DUI arrest.  Each subsequent misdemeanor DUI conviction resulted in a one year sentence, with each sentence to be served concurrently.

According to her plea, Alexander drove to Oklahoma to engage in sex with the teenager in January 2009.  On the morning of January 9, the boy's mother discovered he was missing and sent him a text message to return home immediately.  The boy returned with Alexander, who told the mother that she was there to discuss the boy's marriage to her daughter, who was only 9 years old at the time.  The teen's mother told Alexander to leave and refrain from further contact with her son.  However, Alexander returned two days later, and a warrant for her arrest was issued for stalking.

The boy admitted to his mother that he and Alexander had a sexual relationship, and that Alexander wanted to marry him.  According to the boy's mother, the teen threatened to kill himself as a result of the relationship.  In addition to the boy's admission, his mother found suggestive text messages on his cell phone, in which Alexander referred to herself as the teenager's "wife," even though Annamay Alexander is a married mother of three.  Alexander was accused of distributing obscene material online after  teen's mother also found a photograph of Alexander wearing only underwear stored on the boy's Playstation console.

As a result of Annamay Alexander's obsession with the Oklahoma City boy, she was charged with one count of sending obscene materials, two counts of enticing a child under 16 to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing photographs,  and one count of traveling across state lines for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct.

As a result of her conviction, Annamay Alexander faces up to 30 years in prison and will be required to register as an Oklahoma sex offender.

Despite Kelsey's repeated brutal injuries, DHS, who had removed the girl from her mother's home, later returned her to the abusive household.  After Kelsey's death, her mother and stepfather each blamed the other for the abuse.  While Porter was charged with first degree murder and child sex abuse in Oklahoma, he pleaded guilty to enabling child abuse.  He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.  Smith, Kelsey's mother, who was not charged with the girl's murder, was also convicted of enabling child abuse in Oklahoma and was sentenced to 27 years.  Raye Dawn Smith is appealing the conviction.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has scheduled an evidentiary hearing for September 1.  According to the court, witness statements in Smith's appeal "contain sufficient information to show at least a strong possibility that a juror received information outside of the courtroom."  These witnesses report that a juror repeatedly told them about the case during the trial and that she admitted to watching media reports about the case  and visiting internet sites dedicated to Kelsey's memory.  Smith's Oklahoma domestic violence lawyer says that the trial was unjust due to juror misconduct, and that the juror's defiance of court orders to avoid media coverage of the story prejudiced the verdict.

In any trial, all participants are responsible for ensuring justice is upheld.  This includes not only the Oklahoma defense attorneys, prosecutors, and judges, but the jurors as well.  Under the justice system, all citizens have the right to a fair trial.  Juror misconduct can destroy the possibility of a fair judgment.

Recently, Sooner running back Mossis Madu, was arrested and charged with misdemeanor Oklahoma DUI.  Madu, a senior at the University of Oklahoma, was pulled over in Norman in the early hours of July 28, when a  police officer noticed Madu's vehicle weaving across his lane.  The officer reported that he detected the odor of alcohol on Madu, and that the football player had slurred speech, watery eyes, and difficulty maintaining balance.  When the officer asked for Madu's driver's license, Madu handed him his University of Oklahoma student ID.  According to police reports, Madu admitted to the arresting officer that he had consumed two drinks.  A breathalyzer test recorded the running back's blood alcohol concentration at 0.19, over twice the legal limit for DUI in Oklahoma.

While Madu's Oklahoma DUI defense lawyer will be be helping him fight charges in court, Madu's arrest will also create difficulties on the playing field.  Currently competing with teammate DeMarco Murray for the role of backup tailback, Madu most certainly faces disciplinary measures from coach Bob Stoops and the OU athletic director.  A suspension of his competition could seal the position for Murray.

Of course, it wouldn't be Bedlam if players at Oklahoma State University weren't competing.  On the same day of Madu's arrest, OSU officials released a police report showing that safety Victor Johnson was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana.  Johnson will appear in court on August 23, the same day he faces another hearing regarding the DUI charges stemming from his June 11 arrest.  Johnson pleaded not guilty to DUI, but with his latest arrest, he also faces charges of Oklahoma drug possession and obstruction of justice.

The Sooners' first football game of the season is August 30.  The Cowboys take the field September 4.  It is not clear whether either Madu or Johnson will be playing in the early games, but hopefully, both teams' members can show enough responsibility to be operating with no suspensions when Bedlam strikes November 27 in Stillwater.