With holidays approaching and the year winding down, this roundup can help you catch up on some Oklahoma news nuggets you may have missed.
If you didn’t catch Hulk Hogan hocking his new beer in Tulsa, don’t worry, his comments on Oklahoma Athletics Commission issues can be found below.
Meanwhile, the Pardon and Parole Board has denied clemency for a death row inmate, a former Lawton banker has been convicted of bank fraud, and a notorious attorney is surrendering her law license.
Hulk Hogan talks slap fighting, professional wrestling
Professional wrestler and new teetotaler Hulk Hogan, 71, visited Tulsa and surrounding suburbs Dec. 4 and Dec. 5 in promotion of his Real American Beer. Asked about issues facing the Oklahoma Athletics Commission, Hogan shared his thoughts on slap fighting and mixed-gender professional wrestling, which have drawn controversy in the state.
In November, Attorney General Gentner Drummond released a formal opinion that the State Athletic Commission has authority to regulate slap fighting, a controversial new competition that has gained popularity after beginning in Russia. The same commission has been mulling the legalization of mixed-gender professional wrestling in Oklahoma after being scrutinized for exerting regulatory action against professional wrestling promotions that featured a transgender performer.
Officially launched June 14, Hogan’s beer takes advantage of a 2022 regulation change that ended prohibition of using the American flag on alcoholic beverage containers, which the blog Who Owns My Beer credits for starting “a growing trend of breweries leaning into jingoism to sell their product.”
Speaking to reporters in Kayfabe at a Reasor’s grocery store in Tulsa, Hogan touted the launch of his new product. (Hogan initially misnamed the location as QuikTrip, but he recut his promo to correct the name of his brand partner.)
“Brother! Hulk Hogan here, don’t you know. Don’t you recognize me? I’m here with Reasor’s grocery store brother — my new tag team partner. We’re going to be running wild with Hulk Hogan’s Real American Beer. You better get down here, get some and see me. I need to arm wrestle somebody real bad,” Hogan said before breaking character. “The energy is crazy. Now I need a nap.”
Hogan hinted toward recent culture war issues that motivated him to launch the beer. He referenced Bud Light — a beer brand which drew criticism from some conservatives for hiring transgender actress Dylan Mulvaney in 2023 — while simultaneously framing his America-centric marketing campaign as having bipartisan appeal.
“I saw Bud Light crash and burn because they didn’t understand their audience and their marketing plan was really bad,” Hogan said. “And I said I had an idea. Fast lane, right down the middle — American, apple pie, wrestling, football, ‘Purple Mountain’s majesty.’ And I said we’re more alike than we are different, you know. Democrats and Republicans don’t talk. My neighbors don’t talk. I said we can bring America back together one beer at a time over a conversation.”
Asked whether slap fighting should be regulated and whether the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission should legalize mixed-gender professional wrestling, Hogan quickly offered his thoughts.
“Slap fighting, I just can’t imagine standing there and letting another 300-pound man knock my head off my shoulders,” Hogan said. “So I guess you have to be extra tough to take that.”
On mixed-gender professional wrestling, Hogan was less enthusiastic.
“My stepson is going into wrestling right now — we’re learning how to amateur wrestle — and some of the girls are pretty tough, you know, so I think everybody should stay in their own lane,” Hogan said. “I think the men and the boys should wrestle the men and boys, and the girls can wrestle the girls, but that’s just me — my opinion.”
While potential rule-making to regulate slap fighting or to adjust the gender boundaries for professional wrestling could be considered in 2025, the Oklahoma Athletic Commission is in the final stages of adding a new rule that would require boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts and other combat sports to comply with the Unified Rules adopted by the Association of Boxing Commissions.
The public comment period for that new rule proposal is set to conclude with an open hearing 1 p.m. Friday, Jan. 17. The Athletic Commission’s next regular meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 7.
Pardon and Parole Board denies clemency for death row inmate
Concluding a 2.5-hour hearing Dec. 13, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted to deny clemency to Kevin Underwood, who was sentenced to death in 2008 for the brutal murder of his 10-year-old neighbor, Jamie Rose Bolin.
Three members of the five-seat board were present, and each voted to deny clemency:
- Richard Miller;
- Robert Reavis II; and
- Susan Stava, who was appointed to the board Dec. 6 after two board members resigned.
Friday’s vote came after presentations by Underwood’s defense team and from prosecutors with the Attorney General’s Office. Underwood also spoke to the board from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. Some family members of the victim, Jamie Rose Bolin, also made remarks to the board.
“I recognize that although I do not want to die, I recognize that I deserve to for what I did,” said Underwood, who cried throughout his two-minute address. “If my death can change what I did, I would gladly die. I would like to apologize to the victim’s family, to my own family and to everyone in that room today who had to hear the horrible details of what I did.”
Connie Underwood, Kevin’s mother, also cried as she asked the board to show mercy to her son. She discussed pervasive bullying he experienced growing up as well as other difficulties in his childhood.
“I wish that we had known what he was going through inside. I wish we had understood his pain before it led to this tragedy,” Connie Underwood said. “I’m not making excuses, but I’m asking for understanding.”
Underwood’s team attempted to draw board members’ attention to his numerous mental illness diagnoses, “including autism spectrum disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, hormone imbalance, panic disorder, paraphilia, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizotypo personality disorder, social phobia and others,” according to Brendan Van Winkle, one of his lawyers.
Underwood’s lawyers also presented a recorded statement from autism expert Kim Spence, who said his early development of a “pornography addiction (…) put him on a pathway to disaster.” Spence said she had been planning on attending Underwood’s hearing in person before it was twice rescheduled in the wake of the board resignations, one of which involved investigation of whether a member previously sexted a woman from a court-mandated class he led.
“It is abundantly clear that the combination of depression, intensive social anxiety, poor self-esteem and profound shame, the persistent torment by his peers and father, and the daily degradation in one form or another, and his lack of basic nurturing — especially when you consider his undiagnosed autism and mental health disorders — resulted in his unhealthy obsessions and his deviant ideation,” Spence said.
Interspersing their statements with clips from Underwood’s detailed confession to police, assistant attorney general Aspen Layman focused on the heinous nature of Underwood’s crime, citing the “extremely wicked and shockingly evil” language given to the jurors who originally considered his fate.
“Today he asks you for the mercy he denied 10-year-old Jamie, but no mercy is warranted here. Not where Mr. Underwood remains an unrepentant and depraved pedophile and child killer,” Aspen Layman told the board.
Layman also suggested Underwood faked his mental illness.
“Mr. Underwood murdered Jamie because he really thought that he could get away with it, get the best of both worlds, make his fantasy a reality and escape all consequences,” Layman said.
After the presentations and statements, board members conducted no discussion of the case before voting to reject the clemency application. Underwood is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 10 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 19 (his birthday, according to Nolan Clay of The Oklahoman).
Former Lawton bank exec sentenced
On Dec. 13, a former senior vice president at BancFirst in Lawton was sentenced to 16 months in federal prison after pleading guilty earlier this year to bank fraud.
John Padilla, 44, admitted in June “to recruiting an associate to apply for a loan, knowing the proceeds were for his own personal use,” according to a press release from U.S. Attorney Robert Troester’s office. Spanning 2013 to 2019, Padilla’s actions cost BancFirst more than $1 million, Troester’s office said.
“Padilla executed a scheme in which he recruited borrowers to apply for loans, many of which were not creditworthy and were in fact Padilla’s friends and associates,” Troester’s press release stated. “Padilla told the borrowers he would use the loan proceeds to invest in his real estate ventures, and that he would pay the borrowers a percentage of the profit. In reality, Padilla would use most of the loan proceeds to support his gambling habit, while also using proceeds to make payments toward prior loans issued as part of the scheme.”
Padilla’s sentencing comes as Oklahoma’s banking community awaits further information about Danny Seibel, the former CEO of First National Bank of Lindsay who has been sued in state court for allegedly misrepresenting financial statements for the bank, which the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency closed in October. In his response to the lawsuit from a former majority shareholder, Seibel appeared to admit culpability, although the extent of criminal inquiry into his actions remains unclear.
“I, Danny, solely took actions that went against my fiduciary responsibilities to the board of directors of the First National Bank of Lindsay, and its customers,” Seibel wrote. “Those actions were wrongly taken out of deep internal fear for my job and position within the community. I truly believed I could eventually correct these actions with minimal loss to the bank.”
Mustang Public Schools payroll director pleads
Also on Dec. 13, Troester’s office announced that the former payroll services director of Mustang Public Schools pleaded guilty to committing wire fraud and making and subscribing a false tax return. Kim Weinrich, 67, had been charged with the crimes 10 days prior and accused of defrauding the school district out of more than $471,000 between July 2016 and April 2022.
“Weinrich manipulated the District’s payroll accounting software to increase her net pay each pay period, and deposited the stolen funds into her personal bank account. Weinrich’s scheme resulted in several district employees underreporting their federal and state withholdings, which reduced the amount of their tax refunds,” Troester’s office said in a press release. “Additionally, public records indicate that Weinrich manipulated the district’s payroll accounting software to make it appear as if she paid substantial amounts in federal income taxes, when in reality, Weinrich had no federal income taxes withheld.”
Weinrich faces up to 23 years in federal prison and fines up to $350,000.
Julie Ezell gives up law license, spurs stern Supreme Court statement
An attorney who had retained the right to practice law despite pleading guilty for fabricating harassment complaints at the Oklahoma State Department of Health has now surrendered her license for stealing money from client trust accounts.
On Dec. 9, the Oklahoma Supreme Court approved the resignation of Julie Ezell from the Oklahoma Bar Association to avoid disciplinary proceedings. Ezell’s tenure as OSDH general counsel ended amid a bizarre scenario with the then-director of the Board of Pharmacy. In 2019, she pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors for sending herself threatening emails to feign harassment while writing new medical marijuana rules.
The Supreme Court’s initial suspension for Ezell listed in November 2020, and she began practicing cannabis law. According to court documents, she again came under investigation in September 2023 for “insufficient funds in her IOLTA account.”
“Respondent admits she did not provide full and fair disclosure of the relevant facts in her written responses during the OBA’s investigation,” Chief Justice M. John Kane IV wrote in the order.
Another accusation lodged in January involved Ezell allegedly falsifying a client’s signature on a legal document “without her consent or knowledge.” A third inquiry was opened in August after Ezell “self-reported that she converted approximately $123,177.78 in client funds for personal use.”
Asked for comment about her departure from the legal profession, Ezell said she has been sober almost 18 months from an opiate addiction.
“When I got sober I worked to address all of the issues and consequences of my addiction — including making sure all of my clients were whole,” Ezell said. “I also self-reported to the Bar (Association) knowing it would result in me resigning my license but recognizing it was an appropriate and just consequence. I’m ashamed of many of my actions during my active addiction and will continue to work the rest of my life to make amends to everyone impacted by it. At the same time, I’m proud of my sobriety and being a person who owns her mistakes and tries her best to address them.”
In a concurring order, Justice Douglas Combs observed that Ezell’s resignation “has the same practical effect as disbarring her.” However, he noted she “will have the opportunity to petition for reinstatement” in five years.
“At that juncture, I want this court to remember the full history of respondent’s disciplinary record,” Combs wrote. “I wish to reaffirm my position that this court should not discipline attorneys with criminal convictions under Rule 7 of the [Rules Governing Disciplinary Proceedings] in a manner that allows them to be readmitted while either a deferred sentence or a suspended sentence is pending. Respondent’s disciplinary history emphasizes my repeated concern that questions how this court can protect the integrity of the legal profession if we allow a lawyer to practice law while on criminal probation with specific terms and conditions to avoid conviction or incarceration.”
Combs had argued for a longer suspension in 2020, calling Ezell’s false reports as OSDH general counsel “egregious.”
Ironically, two years later, Combs joined a 5-3 Supreme Court majority in OBA reinstatement of former Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Morgan, whom a federal jury convicted in 2012 of bribery. In 2016, Morgan (D-Stillwater) was sentenced to 18 months in prison after originally facing a 63-count indictment that included extortion and conspiracy charges with a lobbyist and another attorney. Morgan was acquitted of some counts and others were dropped, but his case drew significant attention to conduct in the State Senate.
“According to evidence at trial, Morgan, an attorney, accepted payments from a business that owned assisted-living centers, disguised as legal fees, in exchange for favorable treatment in the Legislature,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a press release announcing Morgan’s sentence.
In voting to readmit Morgan to the legal profession in 2022, Combs supported Justice Yvonne Kauger’s opinion that said Morgan’s conviction “was based on some very suspect evidence, based on the testimony of a convicted felon, resulting in a bill [SB 738] that no one has ever complained about.”
In dissent, Justice Dustin Rowe emphasized that the legal profession “exists to serve the public.”
“The uniqueness of [Morgan’s] misconduct begs the question of what potential deleterious effect his reinstatement might have on the public’s perception of the bar, which is of utmost importance to us in disciplinary matters,” Rowe wrote. “The answer to that question seems quite clear: Reinstatement of petitioner’s law license would signal to the public that this court takes lightly incidents of public corruption by attorneys at the highest levels of our most vital institutions.”
Despite his bribery conviction, a portrait recognizing Morgan’s time leading the Oklahoma Senate hangs in the Capitol hallway leading to the president pro tempore’s office.
Biden issues mass commutation, includes ‘kids for cash’ judge
President Joe Biden has commuted the remaining prison sentence of more than 1,400 federal inmates who were released on house arrest during the COVID-19 pandemic, including Michael Conahan, a former Pennsylvania judge convicted of racketeering for participating in the “kids for cash” scandal.
Conahan pleaded guilty in 2010 for accepting kickbacks in exchange for sentencing children to time in privately run juvenile prisons. Judge Mark Ciavarella — Conahan’s co-conspirator — maintained his innocence at trial but was convicted in 2011 and is still serving his sentence with a projected release date in 2034. The two judges received more than $2.8 million for sentencing thousands of children to juvenile detention, sometimes for very minor crimes. Conahan was released on house arrest in 2020.
The “kids for cash” scandal rocked Pennsylvania’s justice system and spawned a movement for juvenile justice reform in the state. The commutation comes a few weeks after Biden controversially pardoned his own son. Presidents typically save their most controversial pardons for the end of their term.
However, another slew of controversial pardons could be on the January horizon from incoming President Donald Trump. During this year’s campaign, Trump promised to pardon participants in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and he recently reiterated the pledge.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 10 Oklahomans were charged for allegedly participating in the attack. According to reporting from The Oklahoman, at least five have been convicted, including:
- Levi Roy Gable of Tulsa;
- Jerry Edward Ryals of Fort Gibson;
- Edward T. Spain Jr.;
- Anthony Griffith Sr.; and
- Dova Alina Winegart of Fairview; and Tricia Monique LaCount of Tulsa.
Another prominent Oklahoman stalking a pardon is Joe Exotic, the big-cat documentary phenomena and former gubernatorial candidate. Pardon 47, a group advocating for Trump to pardon specific individuals, recently endorsed pardoning Exotic and New York Mayor Eric Adams.
