Renegade Judges
Here is an article published in the Ft. Smith, Arkansas newspaper, Times Record. Starting to get some press. Looks like the fight is on!
Victim's Son Seeks New Law
Wednesday, February 21, 2007 9:12 AM CST
By Jeff Arnold
TIMES RECORD
The son of one of Daniel Fears' victims is pushing for new laws that he said would protect the citizens of Oklahoma from violent mentally ill criminals and renegade appellate judges.
On Oct. 26, 2002, Fears took a rifle from his father's Sallisaw home and went on a shooting spree that left two people dead and eight people wounded before he surrendered to police.
In 2004, a Sequoyah County jury convicted Fears of two counts of first-degree murder, five counts of drive-by shooting, eight counts of shooting with intent to kill, discharging a firearm and feloniously pointing a firearm. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In July 2006, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals vacated the jury decision and directed a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.
Last month, the court denied the state's request that it reconsider its decision, and Fears was transferred to a state mental hospital with the possibility of being released.
Under Oklahoma law, if Fears is determined to no longer be a danger to himself or others, he could be released from a state hospital with or without supervision, depending on the determination of the court.
Roger Nix, the son of Patsy Sue Wells, 61, of Sallisaw, who was shot and killed by Fears, said he wants to see a change in Oklahoma law and the impeachment of the three justices on the court of criminal appeals who voted to vacate Fears' guilty verdict. Reba Spangler, 68, of Fort Smith was also killed in the shooting spree.
Nix, of Florence, Ala., said he wants to see Oklahoma law changed so those found not guilty by reason of insanity - after committing a "heinous crime" - never have the opportunity to be released from state custody.
Nix said a heinous crime could be a particularly violent rape, murder or other crimes defined by the state Legislature.
But a University of Virginia law professor, Richard J. Bonnie, said such a law wouldn't pass constitutional muster.
In addition to being a law professor, Bonnie is a professor of psychiatric medicine and director of the Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy.
Bonnie said a person found not guilty by reason of insanity is by definition not convicted of a crime, and may be held in custody for "therapeutic restraint" but not jailed as punishment.
Bonnie said he is not aware of any state with a law similar to the one sought by Nix, and for good reason. "To my mind it is so clearly unconstitutional; I imagine legal advisers to legislators are telling them the same thing," Bonnie said.
However, some states have enacted laws that reach a similar end sought by Nix without the same constitutional entanglements, Bonnie said.
Some states allow for a finding of guilty but mentally ill, in which a defendant receives treatment in a mental facility and then is transferred to prison to serve the rest of his sentence if his competence is restored, Bonnie said. Other states have abolished insanity pleas.
In addition to seeking lifelong confinement for some violent offenders found not guilty by reason of insanity, Nix said, he is pushing for the Oklahoma House of Representatives to launch an impeachment investigation of criminal court of appeals judges Charles Capel, Charles Johnson and David Lewis.
Capel, Johnson and Lewis voted to direct a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity for Fears. The other members of the court agreed that Fears' guilty verdict should be overturned, but argued he should be granted a new trial instead of acquittal.
The court as a whole found former Sequoyah County Prosecutor Richard Gray engaged in prosecutorial misconduct for going beyond what was considered "proper argument." Capel, Johnson and Lewis also found that the state failed to prove Fears was sane and that the jury should have received an instruction on the consequences of a not guilty by reason of insanity verdict.
In his dissent, Vice Presiding Judge Gary Lumpkin argued the three judges substituted their judgment of the facts for the jury's judgment, which is the sole responsibility of the jury under the Oklahoma Constitution.
Lumpkin also wrote that Capel, Johnson and Lewis relied on a law that was repealed before it went into effect in determining the jury should have received instruction on the consequences of a not guilty by reason of insanity verdict.
Nix said impeachment proceedings should be initiated by the House, so the Oklahoma Senate can determine if Capel, Johnson and Lewis disregarded state law and the state constitution in violation of their oath.
Nix also supports an amendment to a proposed Senate bill regarding the insanity defense, offered by state Sen. Kenneth Corn, D-Poteau, which would limit the court of criminal appeals' authority to ordering a new trial or sentencing in cases dealing with an insanity defense.
Corn did not return a call seeking comment, but his office issued a news release on his introduction of the amendment.
"The amendment keeps the Court of Criminal Appeals from acting as a jury," Corn stated in the release. "In cases such as this, the court should not have the authority to overturn the ruling made by a jury of his (Fears') peers."
United Victims, an organization of victims of the Fears' shooting spree headed by Nix, will hold a rally at the fairgrounds in Sallisaw on March 10 to bring attention to the appellate court decision and the impeachment and legislative efforts.
Created with ShoutPost
