Former Sheriff Stanley Glanz leaves the grand jury with his attorney, Scott Wood, in September.
The attorney for Stanley Glanz, and one of the district attorneys who prosecuted the former Tulsa County sheriff, have discussed a plea deal in the weeks prior to a Friday hearing in his case, they told The Frontier.
Glanz resigned from office last October and was later charged with two misdemeanors after a grand jury indicted him following weeks of testimony from deputies and staff with the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office.
Scott Wood, Glanz’s attorney, told The Frontier last month that he had had discussions with prosecutors Kevin Buchanan and Rob Barris about a plea deal for Glanz, though the two sides hadn’t reached an agreement. Barris later confirmed that the discussions had taken place, and referred to them as “ongoing.”
Barris told The Frontier on Wednesday that he had spoken to Wood earlier that day, and would only say Friday’s hearing is “still set to go on.” Wood could not be reached for comment.
Friday’s hearing is a discovery hearing, a time when attorneys for both sides must say whether they’ve turned all relevant evidence in the case over to each other.
Glanz is charged with two crimes: using a county vehicle while taking a stipend for personal vehicle use and refusing to release a record related to a previous investigation into former Reserve Deputy Robert Bates.
Bates shot and killed Eric Harris in 2015 during a botched gun-buy in north Tulsa, and was later convicted of second-degree manslaughter and sentenced to four years in prison.
Reporters had sought information on Bates’ history with TCSO, due to his close ties to Glanz. (Bates had served as his campaign chairman, donated thousands of dollars to the former sheriff, gave equipment to TCSO and took Glanz and other higher-ups on numerous vacations.)
If convicted of the two misdemeanor crimes, Glanz could theoretically spend time in a county jail, though the plea discussions between the two sides make jail time seem unlikely.
A section of grand jury testimony was released to the public in February after a transcript was ordered issued by a judge. (Grand juries meet in secret and witness testimony is rarely made public.)
Former Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz. DYLAN GOFORTH/The Frontier
Ironically, Glanz’s desire in 2009 to keep the investigation into Bates secret may come back to bite the former sheriff.
Wood has sought to get the charge related to the Bates report — refusal to perform official duty — dropped, claiming it is an internal affairs document not subject to Oklahoma’s Open Records act.
Prosecutors have argued against that, and in the now-public grand jury testimony, it’s clear why. In the 2009 document, Bates is alleged to have received countless benefits as a result of his relationship with the members of TCSO’s hierarchy.
“Now, with my experience with the media, some of the reporters that were calling, I believed in my heart that they knew more than I did about some investigation that had taken place,” former Maj. Shannon Clark told the grand jury. “Otherwise, they’re not going to ask those questions.”
The 2009 Bates inquiry, it turned out, was never turned into an official investigation, something Sgt. Robbie Lillard — who authored the report — testified to the grand jury was called sending it to “dead file.”
Since it was a “dead file,” the report had no Internal Affairs number. So as pressure on TCSO to produce or acknowledge the investigation mounted, the report could not be located by any standard searches, Clark testified.
“There was a record that was produced in a computer, but (Sgt.) Robbie (Lillard) did it on a Word document, not under an Internal Affairs number or assignment. It was like a personal investigation for Undersheriff (Brian) Edwards at the time,” he said.
When the report finally surfaced within the agency, its existence was again swept under the rug, according to Clark’s testimony.
Clark testified to the grand jury that as reporters continued to ask about the 2009 Bates report, he was repeatedly told by Undersheriff Tim Albin that no one could find that specific report.
Glanz’s resignation and criminal charges marked a dark end for his reign at TCSO. Glanz first ran for office in 1989 at 47 and was hailed as a reformer. His role as sheriff ended at age 73 with the agency in disarray.
Glanz’s departure was among several at the agency, which had for years been under the same leadership team.
Albin and Maj. Tom Huckeby were forced to resign by Glanz last May. Clark was fired by Glanz and Capt. Billy McKelvey resigned from office after being demoted by Glanz.
Both Clark and McKelvey have said they believe they were targeted for punishment by Glanz, who, according to testimony, thought they were seeking to come after him.
When Glanz left office, he was replaced as sheriff by Rick Weigel, who had served as a chief deputy and then undersheriff after Albin resigned. Weigel resigned in January, leaving former Chief Deputy Michelle Robinette in charge of the office. She served as interim sheriff until Vic Regalado was elected in April and continues to work for TCSO.
