During the run-up to the November 8th election, we have noted the choice before the citizens of Oklahoma whether to approve two State Questions (780 and 781) that, if passed, would work to reduce prison overcrowding in this state by reclassifying certain felony-level drug and property crimes to misdemeanors while redirecting into drug treatment programs…
A common theme of many police detective TV programs, both reality-based and fictional, involves the criminal suspect who turns out to be his own worst enemy because he thinks that he’s smarter than the police—only to be proven disastrously wrong when he slips up by telling a lie or is otherwise caught in some inconsistency….
Perhaps when you were still in school in one of your history classes you heard about “debtors’ prisons.” In the absence of bankruptcy laws, these were places where people who could not pay public or private debts could end up for years because there was no debt forgiveness. You might want to think that today…
Oklahoma Insanity Defense Law “Not guilty by reason of mental illness.” You’ve probably heard of this kind of jury verdict before, more commonly known as the “insanity defense,” perhaps in connection with the September release of John Hinckley, Jr.—the man who in 1981 attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in an attempt to gain the…
We covered earlier on this blog what happened when the Oklahoma Board of Tests for Alcohol and Drug Influence failed to adhere to proper rulemaking procedures when it comes to the use of the Intoxilyzer 8000 breathalyzer device and improperly allowed the executive director of the Board of Tests to engage in what amounted to…
