The Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the death sentence of Daniel Raul Santiago Vasquez, convicted for murdering a woman in 2018 while she was seven months pregnant.
The same day the court upheld Vasquez’s death penalty, it also held that refusing a breathalyzer test during a DUI traffic stop is admissible evidence and issued an order barring felons from owning airsoft guns. The Court of Criminal Appeals’ civil counterpart — the Oklahoma Supreme Court — also had an active end to January, ruling that government stimulus checks can be included in calculations about child support.
In this legal roundup, read about the happenings at the state’s two highest courts and more — including a falling elevator in Stillwater and the arrest of a Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office dissident.
Court of Criminal Appeals upholds death penalty case…
The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals unanimously upheld the death penalty conviction of Daniel Raul Santiago Vasquez on Jan. 30 after his attorneys raised 11 different grounds for overturning his case. The court rejected each proposition and upheld Vasquez’s two first-degree murder convictions for the April 2018 killing of Shaliyah Toombs and her unborn child.
Vasquez’s co-accomplices, Joshua Finkbeiner and Staci Harjo, received life sentences. According to reports from The Oklahoman and KFOR, the trio kidnapped Toombs and drove around planning how to kill her. Vasquez told authorities Finkbeiner choked Toombs for up to 20 minutes before telling Vasquez to “finish the job.” Their motivations were alleged to involve a stolen backpack and a stolen wallet. According to reporting from The Purcell Register, on May 2, 2018, Vasquez went into a convenience store and alerted a Lighthorse officer that his truck had run out of gas and that there was a body in the back.
…And expands evidence admissible in DUI hearings …
In Armstrong v. Oklahoma, an appeal from Comanche County District Court, the Court of Criminal Appeals unanimously found that a criminal defendant’s refusal to take a breathalyzer test is admissible at trial.
“We find that the state was properly allowed to introduce evidence of Armstrong’s refusal to submit to a breath test under [Title 47, Section 756(A)],” Judge Scott Rowland wrote. “We find that the introduction of this evidence was not conditioned upon Armstrong first testifying at trial and that, subject to the limiting instruction (…) evidence of Armstrong’s refusal to take the breath test is a circumstance which, along with all the other evidence in this case, could be considered by the jury in determining the question of Armstrong’s guilt.”
The decision clarifies that Oklahoma law generally allows prosecutors to introduce at trial evidence that a criminal defendant in a DUI case refused to take a breathalyzer test.
… And finds felons barred from owing airsoft guns
Also on Jan. 31, a divided Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals overturned a 50-year-old precedent concerning airsoft guns, issuing a ruling in Oklahoma v. Diaz that airguns can be considered firearms.
The court voted 3-2 to overturn the 1971 case Thompson v. State, which had found that an airgun was not a firearm under state law. Judges released five separate opinions on the new case, which was appealed from Kay County District Court.
Jesse Seth Diaz Jr. was charged Oct. 31, 2023, as a felon in possession of a firearm after he was arrested for possessing an airsoft pistol during a traffic stop. Diaz was released from the traffic stop while his passenger was arrested on an active warrant. While in custody, the passenger notified police Diaz had thrown a gun from the window after noticing them. After searching the location, police found an airsoft pistol and arrested Diaz for possessing a firearm as a felon.
Kay County Special Judge David Wilkie ruled the airsoft pistol did not meet the statutory definition of a firearm, and his ruling was upheld by District Judge Phillip Corley. On appeal, the court narrowly reversed the lower court and found the airsoft pistol was within the Legislature’s intent when it passed the statute.
“We interpreted the legislative intent of Section 1283 as ‘to keep guns, real or imitation, out of the possession or control of felons,’” Judge William Musseman wrote for the majority. “Based on the record provided, we find sufficient evidence existed to bind appellee over for possession of an ‘imitation pistol.’”
Judges Gary Lumpkin and Scott Rowland agreed with Musseman, but both wrote special concurring opinions. Lumpkin emphasized the list of possible items in the statute was a “red herring” that did not need consideration when interpreting the statute.
“The attempt by the Legislature to provide an all encompassing list of possible items in illustration of this intent has turned into a ‘red herring’ that causes readers to get down in the weeds focusing on the given examples rather than the overall legislative intent,” Lumpkin wrote.
Rowland wrote separately to emphasize problems with the Thompson decision.
“Thompson held, astonishingly in my view, that an imitation pistol must still meet the definition of a firearm, meaning that it is capable of firing a deadly projectile by means of a combustible propellant,” Rowland wrote. “In summary, I concur in overruling Thompson and its requirement that an imitation pistol must be capable of discharging a lethal projectile by means of a combustible propellant.”
Judges David Lewis and Robert Hudson both dissented, with Lewis’ being only two sentences.
“The Legislature easily could have included BB guns in the statute prohibiting convicted felons from possessing firearms, but they didn’t,” Lewis wrote. “For this reason I respectfully dissent to the majority opinion.”
Hudson wrote a three-page dissent, arguing the court should show restraint and keep with its holding in Thompson until the Legislature alters the statute.
“Had the Legislature intended to cover BB guns or unaltered air pistols like the one possessed by appellee, then it could have said that explicitly in Section 1283,” Hudson wrote. “The Legislature’s failure to refute Thompson explicitly over the years is also notable if for no reason other than the vitality of this decision itself.”
2 arrested in separate incidents for possessing fighting birds
Two Texas men have been arrested on cockfighting-related charges, and 10 fighting roosters found in their vehicles have been confiscated in two separate incidents in southeast Oklahoma.
Kevin Chambers, Oklahoma state director for Animal Wellness Action, said cockfighting season generally runs from January through August.
“Every weekend, Saturday and Sunday, there’s a cockfight going on some place,” Chambers said. “And there’s a lot of (cockfighting) pits in southern Oklahoma, so they were most likely coming and going to a cockfight. It’s really hard to know where they’re doing it at, because they move the pits around.”
The two men were pulled over on unrelated traffic stops in Atoka and Murray counties. Roosters were found in both of the vehicles.
Khai Hong Nguyen, 51, of Grand Prairie, Texas, was stopped for driving with an inoperable passenger headlight. Asked what he had in the vehicle, Nguyen said he had four roosters in his vehicle that he was taking to sell to someone, according to a court document filed by Atoka Police Sgt. Cody Poe. Nguyen also said he had spurs, or gaffs, which are attached to roosters involved in cockfighting.
The roosters were in two wooden boxes, with two in each box, Poe wrote. One of the roosters had its natural spurs filed down to a nub so that a spur could be attached. One rooster did not have a comb on its head and didn’t have wattles, he said. He noted one of the boxes had a small amount of blood on its top.
Nguyen, who had active warrants in Texas for cockfighting and money laundering, was charged in Atoka County District Court with possessing or training birds for fighting. He posted a $15,000 bond, and a preliminary hearing conference is scheduled for March 15.
On Jan. 18 in nearby Murray County, rangers with the National Park Service pulled over J.C. Lewis Jr., of Elbert, Texas, for speeding. After his vehicle was pulled over, rangers found six roosters inside the vehicle. Animal Wellness Action assisted in finding a sanctuary for the birds.
Lewis, 60, was charged in Murray County District Court with possessing and training birds for fighting. He was still in jail Jan. 31, in lieu of a $10,000 bond. A preliminary hearing conference is scheduled for Feb. 20.
The arrests came shortly before the start of this year’s legislative session, where two lawmakers have filed legislation to reduce cockfighting penalties.
The Oklahoma Game Fowl Commission, a 501(c)(4) group that pushed legislation decriminalizing and/or reducing penalties for cockfighting crimes in 2023 and 2024, again is supporting bills reducing penalties in Title 21, Section 1692.8, which prescribes the punishments for cockfighting approved by voters in 2002.
HB 1313 by Rep. Justin Humphrey (R-Lane) and SB 1111 by Sen. Tom Woods (R-Westville) would reduce the penalties for cockfighting. Humphrey has also filed HB 1326, which would specify “cockfighting between a live fowl and a robot” as legal, so long as the robot does not “harm” the bird.
Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office arrests, releases critic
One of the loudest critics of the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office was arrested Jan. 22 after the officers mistakenly filed a search warrant application as a criminal misdemeanor filing.
Michael Reynolds, 54, runs “Wilder News,” a Facebook account that often aggregates news with Reynolds’ commentary. He has criticized the department’s finances under Sheriff Chris Amason and deaths at the Cleveland County Jail.
According to reporting from Ben Fenwick of The Norman Transcript, affidavits show a Cleveland County deputy sheriff contacted Chief Deputy John Szymanski on Jan. 14 to report she was “in fear of her safety” after Wilder News posted information about a series of car accidents she had been in, including a picture of her allegedly at the site of an accident in flip flops and a CCSO jacket.
Szymanski wrote that the deputy had hit a parked vehicle, called her supervisor and left the scene before the supervisor arrived. Upon arriving at the scene, the supervisor called the deputy and instructed her to return. On her way to the scene of the first wreck, she struck a mailbox, but she continued driving to return to the location of the first accident.
Szymanski wrote that Reynolds’ posting of the un-redacted records contained information identifying the deputy in violation of Title 21, Section 1176.
Reynolds was released shortly after arriving at the Cleveland County Jail. Cleveland County Court Clerk Marilyn Williamson noted it was unusual for the sheriff’s office to file charges without going through the district attorney’s office, The Transcript noted.
In his affidavit, Szymanski said he had previously been trying to identify the proprietor of Wilder News after others expressed concern over the account’s posts.
On Jan. 30, Reynolds thanked those who had stood up for him.
“I want to take a moment to say thank you. Your support, encouragement, and kind words have meant the world to me,” a post to Wilder News said. “We’re still getting a lot of offers to help, and right now, everything is being handled through the attorney leading this case.”
However, Reynolds is not necessarily in the clear, according to a spokeswoman for Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn.
“When the warrant was initially filed, it was mistakenly categorized under MISD (criminal misdemeanor) instead of MISC (miscellaneous). This error has since been corrected, which is why it has been removed from OSCN under the MISD category,” said Aspen Epling. “We have sent it to the Attorney General’s Office.”
OK Supreme Court rules economic stimulus can count toward child support
In a 5-4 decision, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled Jan. 28 that economic stimulus checks retained by a former partner can be counted toward child support, overturning both a district court decision to exclude the payments and an Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals decision upholding the trial court.
The custody dispute involved an attempt by a father and stepmother to adopt three children without their mother’s consent. The father argued the mother was behind on her child support payments “for 12 of the last 14 months” and state law allowed his new wife to adopt the three children without their mother’s consent.
The mother argued that the father kept $2,000 in economic stimulus money meant for her and that the money should be counted toward her delinquent child support. He was sent the stimulus money instead of her because they had filed taxes jointly the prior year.
The trial court excluded $1,400 of the stimulus money from their calculations of child support and found the mother was delinquent 12 of the last 14 months. The Court of Civil Appeals affirmed that decision.
But Justices Noma Gurich, Dustin Rowe, James Winchester, James Edmondson and Douglas Combs disagreed.
“Had the $1,400 stimulus check been applied to (the) mother’s child support obligation when received, (the) mother would have been current or nearly current on base child support, childcare, and unpaid medical expenses,” Gurich wrote. “Our case law supports the determination that any economic stimulus payments connected to (the) mother’s social security number on the parties’ joint tax return, which were received and credited by (the) father, should have been considered by the trial court when evaluating the application to allow adoption without consent in this case.”
The family law decision clarifies that economic stimulus money should not be excluded by trial courts when examining child support payments. Three Justices — Dana Kuehn, M. John Kane IV and Richard Darby — dissented.
Kuehn wrote a one sentence dissent joined by Kane: “I dissent, as I would affirm the Court of Civil Appeals.”
AG requests federal prisoner transfer for execution
(Update: On Thursday, Feb. 13, following the publication of this article, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi agreed to transfer John Fitzgerald Hanson to the state of Oklahoma for the purposes of his execution. The following item remains in its original form.)
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has requested the transfer of John Fitzgerald Hanson, 60, from federal prison in Louisiana to Oklahoma so the state can carry out his execution. The requests come after the U.S. Bureau of Prisons under former President Joe Biden refused to transfer him to Oklahoma’s custody for his execution.
Hanson is serving a federal life sentence for the murder of Jerald Thurman, an Owasso “dirt pit owner,” and was sentenced to death in Oklahoma court for the murder of banker Mary Agnes Bowles, according to The Oklahoman. Hanson murdered Bowles to steal her car and murdered Thurman for witnessing Bowles’ murder.
While Biden commuted most outstanding federal death penalty cases to life sentences near the end of his term, state death penalties were unaffected. Shortly after taking office, President Donald Trump issued an executive order supportive of capital punishment, prompting Drummond’s request.
“The prior administration’s refusal to transfer Inmate Hanson to state custody to finally carry out a decades-old death sentence is the epitome of subverting and obstructing the execution of a capital sentence,” Drummond wrote. “As a result, I respectfully request that you comply with federal law and President Trump’s righteous (executive) order by transferring inmate Hanson to state custody.”
Drummond has raised eyebrows on both sides of the death penalty debate in Oklahoma. While he has supported a slowdown in executions and clemency for Richard Glossip, he maintains support for capital punishment.
Man who fell in Boone Pickens Stadium elevator loses appeal
In the case of a locksmith who fell six stories in an elevator and subsequently tried to sue the elevator’s constructor, the Court of Civil Appeals affirmed the Payne County District Court’s decision to issue summary judgement in favor of Otis Elevator Company on the basis of judicial estoppel — which is to say, making different claims in different legal proceedings.
In June 2021, Michael Doresey was in an elevator on the sixth floor of Boone Pickens Stadium when the elevator malfunctioned and plummeted to the ground. Doresey sustained a broken pelvis, a head injury and multiple injuries to his neck and back, according to court documents. Doresey pursued worker’s compensation, but was denied his claim, and in March 2022, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
While filing for bankruptcy, Doresey indicated he had no potential “claims against third parties,” and he was granted discharge from his debts on June 1, 2022. He hired a firm in a personal injury action against Otis on May 25, 2022, according to the appeal decision.
When Otis filed for summary judgment on the grounds of judicial estoppel, Doresey’s attorneys reported Doresey had not yet decided to sue Otis when he filed for bankruptcy and did not know his bankruptcy petition should include potential claims against the elevator company.
Now-retired District Judge Phillip Corley granted Otis summary judgment in May 2024. Judge Thomas Prince wrote the opinion affirming Corley’s decision, joined by Judges Brian Goree and Barbara Swinton.
OKC bank executive pleads guilty to fraud
On Feb. 5, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma Robert Troester announced that an Oklahoma City bank executive had pleaded guilty to fraud.
Prosecutors charged Aaron Johnson, 42, with bank fraud Jan. 3. Johnson had been the president and CEO of Farmer’s Bank. According to the charging document, Johnson used the bank’s credit card to pay for his personal expenses from September 2017 to July 2018, causing an overdraft in the bank’s operating account of around $200,000.
Prosecutors said Johnson then engaged in a scheme to pay the overdraft back by providing a $200,000 advance on a loan to a borrower, having the borrower transfer the money to a bank account controlled by him, and then using that money to repay Farmer’s Bank.
Troester said Johnson pleaded guilty to the scheme Feb. 4. He faces up to 30 years in prison and up to a $1 million fine.
Peter Scimeca, the attorney listed for Johnson in the case, directed inquiries to Arnold Spencer, a Dallas-based attorney. Reached by phone, his receptionist said she would forward NonDoc’s request for comment to Spencer.
