In granting prosecutors’ appellate motion Friday, a Garfield County district judge is allowing a child neglect case against former Kingfisher High School football coach Jeff Myers to continue after it was initially thrown out last month.
During a roughly half-hour hearing on the appeal in Kingfisher County District Court, Judge Tom Newby reversed Blaine County Associate District Judge Allison Lafferty’s June 27 ruling that the state had failed to establish Myers committed a “malicious and/or willful” act related to the systemic program abuse alleged by a former KHS football player.
After Lafferty ruled June 27 that prosecutors — who called no law enforcement investigators and only a handful of possible witnesses during the preliminary hearing — had failed to meet their burden of proof, Assistant District Attorney Jimmy Bunn said he would appeal.
The parties briefed the appeal, which was assigned to Newby. The judge reversed his colleague after reviewing a nearly 200-page transcript of the June 27 hearing and video that had been presented in court.
“There is sufficient evidence at the preliminary hearing to bind the defendant over,” Newby said Friday, according to the Kingfisher Times and Free Press. “I am directing the magistrate to correct her ruling.”
Newby’s reversal of Lafferty’s decision means the child neglect case against Myers can continue move to trial. Myers is next scheduled in court Tuesday, Aug. 6, where Lafferty is expected to issue the order binding Myers over for trial.
Joe White, Myers’ attorney, said Monday he was baffled by Newby’s decision but would “keep moving forward.”
“We have no rhyme or reason on where he’s coming from on it. He didn’t explain his ruling,” White said. “You can look at the record — scour the record — and you’re not going to find any rational basis upon which he based his decision other than, ‘I find probable cause.'”
Background on Jeff Myers and the child neglect charge
Lafferty’s June 27 decision to throw the case out came at the end of a preliminary hearing during which Bunn called four of the 60 potential witnesses he had listed to make a prima facie case that Myers neglected the players in his charge during football practices. Lafferty had been assigned the hearing after Kingfisher County judges recused themselves from the case that has pitted community members against each other for nearly four years.
“This ended a lot quicker than I expected,” Lafferty said at the time.
During about four hours of hearings June 27, one former member of the KHS football team testified that players wrestling in the locker room after practice was “high school boys being high school boys having fun,” and another former player said he saw teammates wrestling in what was called “the ring” two or three times during the four years he was on the team. The event was called “the ring” because teammates would encircle the two players in the match.
Their testimony countered that of Mason Mecklenburg, who said he took part in 10 matches his freshman year and several more during his sophomore year. Mecklenburg said he never sought medical treatment for any injuries and did not report the matches to either his parents or his coaches.
Late last year, Mecklenburg reached a $5 million settlement with Kingfisher Public Schools for the civil lawsuit he had filed alleging mental and physical abuse as a result of the matches in the ring. The settlement came two months after then-District Attorney Mike Fields had filed a criminal child neglect charge against Myers and child abuse and perjury charges against former assistant coach Micah Nall related to his investigation of the hazing, bullying and abuse allegations. Fields also charged Mason Mecklenburg’s father and a KPS board member with misdemeanor charges of failure to report child abuse.
Nall waived his right to a preliminary hearing and pleaded not guilty July 3.
As Myers’ case resumes, he is also facing revocation of his teaching certificate, which the State Board of Education voted to suspend June 27 as it moves forward with revocation proceedings. Nall voluntarily surrendered his certificate the same day.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters has been vocal about removing Myers and Nall from teaching and coaching positions.
“What I’ve seen in Kingfisher is horrendous,” said Walters, who chairs the state board, after a meeting in February. “No kid should ever have to go through that. Hearing from the parents, it should not have happened. So, we’re going to hold those responsible for it who should have not allowed that to happen, but also those who knew about it and those that continued to let it go on.”
State board members voted to begin revocation proceedings against Myers at the February meeting.
(Correction: This article was updated at 9:10 a.m. Wednesday, July 24, to correct reference to the title of a judge.)
