New pretrial date set for former Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper charged with rape
A new pretrial court date has been set for a former Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper charged with second-degree rape.
Patrick Venable, 28, is accused of raping a Guthrie woman while on duty June 20. He was ordered to stand trial after Special Judge R.L. Hert Jr. ruled April 4 that there was enough evidence presented at the preliminary hearing for Venable to face trial in district court.
His attorney, Carl Hughes, wrote in an email that Venable plans to proceed with a trial. He said he is still waiting on discovery materials from prosecutors before the case can move forward.
Another pretrial date has been scheduled for 9 a.m. Aug. 17, Hughes said.
Photo by Paul Southerland: Former Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper Patrick Venable talking with his attorney outside a courtroom during his preliminary hearing at the Payne County Courthouse in Stillwater Monday, Jan. 23, 2012.
News outlets ask Supreme Court to allow live coverage of health care decision
The Huffington Post reports that media outlets are asking the Supreme Court to allow cameras in the courtroom to cover the decision on President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.
According to the report, this could be the first time cameras are allowed in the court if the request is approved.
What do you think about the request? Would you watch the live coverage?
Photo by J. Scott Applewhite: This Jan. 25, 2012 file photo shows the Supreme Court Building in Washington.
Becky Bryan: Wife of slain Nichols Hills fire chief to be arraigned Tuesday
Rebecca Bryan, 53, of Mustang, is scheduled to be arraigned on a first-degree murder charge Tuesday in district court.
She is accused of fatally shooting her husband, Keith Bryan, the Nichols Hills fire chief, in September 2011 at their Mustang home. Bryan is scheduled to be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday and will enter a plea.
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Pretrial set for former Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper charged with rape
A pretrial date has been set for a former Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper accused of raping a Guthrie woman while on duty June 20.
Patrick Venable, 28, was ordered to stand trial after Special judge R.L. Hert Jr. ruled April 4 that there was enough evidence presented at the preliminary hearing for Venable to face trial in district court on a count of second-degree rape.
Court records show that Venable’s pretrial is scheduled for 9 a.m. June 15 in Logan County. At his arraignment last week, Venable pleaded not guilty to the charge.
For more on the judge’s order for Venable to stand trial, click here.
Read about the preliminary hearing and testimony here.
Photo by Paul Southerland: Former Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper Patrick Venable leaving a courtroom during his preliminary hearing at the Payne County Courthouse in Stillwater Monday, Jan. 23, 2012.
Court notebook: Search warrant filed in triple Oklahoma City homicide
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Police filed a search warrant Monday for items inside a southwest Oklahoma City home where three people were found dead earlier this month.
Officers responded to shots fired at the home at 3221 S Durland Avenue shortly after midnight April 14. Witnesses told police they saw several people run from the home after the shots were fired and left in different vehicles.
Court notebook: New search warrant filed in Rebecca Bryan case
An Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent has filed a new search warrant in the case of Rebecca Bryan, a Mustang woman accused in the shooting death of her husband, Keith Bryan.
Rebecca Bryan, 52, is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of her husband, the Nichols Hills fire chief, on Sept. 20 inside they Mustang home at at 1320 W Rose Hill Drive.
A judge ordered her to face trial on April 4. Bryan is scheduled to appear for arraignment May 22 in El Reno.
Agent Shawn Wright filed the warrant for a .380 Ruger LCP gun box that once belonged to the couple’s son, Kent Bryan. Officials also requested a fired casing from the pistol, related paperwork and a receipt for the gun.
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Clemency denied for man convicted of killing Oklahoma City woman in 1986
From the Associated Press
Gov. Mary Fallin has decided the execution will proceed for a man scheduled to die for the 1986 slaying of the mother of his two children.
Fallin on Tuesday rejected a 2005 recommendation by the state Pardon and Parole Board to commute the sentence of Garry Thomas Allen to life in prison without parole.
Allen’s attorneys argued that he was mentally impaired when he killed 42-year-old Lawanna Gail Titsworth on Nov. 21, 1986, in Oklahoma City. They say he had been self-medicating for an underlying mental illness, and that his mental condition has worsened.
A police officer shot Allen in the face during a struggle after Allen shot Titsworth.
Oklahoma has four doses remaining of a drug used to execute inmates.
The execution date has been rescheduled for April 12.
Oklahoma Governor unlikely to stay execution
From the Associated Press
A spokesman for Gov. Mary Fallin said the governor is unlikely to stay the execution of Timothy Stemple, who is scheduled to die on Thursday.
He said Tuesday that Fallin reviewed the case and said it would be “very unlikely” a stay would be granted.
The Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty met with Fallin’s deputy general counsel Rebecca Frazier to plead for a stay of execution.
Coalition co-chair Lydia Polley said Stemple’s family has compiled evidence that was never presented in court.
Stemple was sentenced to death for the 1996 murder of his 30-year-old wife, Trisha Stemple, who was beaten with a baseball bat and run over with a pickup truck in Tulsa.
Pittsburg County man convicted of child molestation
A Pittsburg County man accused of inappropriately touching a 5-year-old girl was convicted Thursday of child molestation.
The McAlester News-Capital reports:
Leslie D. Wolfenbarger Sr., age 62, faced a jury Wednesday and Thursday after being accused of inappropriately touching the private areas of a five-year-old girl.
After deliberating for less than three hours, the jury came back with the guilty verdict.
Read the full story here.
Preliminary hearing for wife of slain Nichols Hills fire chief rescheduled
The preliminary hearing for the wife of slain Nichols Hills Fire Chief Keith Bryan has been rescheduled, according to court records.
Rebecca Bryan, 52, was scheduled to appear 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Canadian County Courthouse for her preliminary hearing on a murder charge in connection with her husband’s shooting death on Sept. 20. The date for the hearing has been rescheduled for 9 a.m. March 14.
In a 911 phone call, Rebecca Bryan blamed an intruder for the shooting. She was arrested after the handgun used in the shooting was found inside her home in a clothes dryer.
She called 911 to report her husband being shot at 10:07 p.m. Sept. 20, the records show. She called her former lover that night about three hours earlier, at 7:19 p.m.
The OSBI agent reported Rebecca Bryan had an extramarital affair with the man from July 2009 to January 2010.
For more on the case and death of Keith Bryan, check out NewsOK’s ongoing coverage page here.
Photo by Paul Southerland: Rebecca Bryan, wife of slain fire chief Keith Bryan, walks into the courtroom with her attorney Gary James for her initial arraignment at the Canadian County Courthouse in El Reno Friday, Sept. 30, 2011.
