The two incidents share several key details. Terry Byrum, according to the report, was on the ground, having already been handcuffed and subdued by deputies when Bates arrived, placed his foot on Byrum’s head and fired his Taser.
By a 5-4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld Oklahoma’s use of a controversial new drug in lethal injections, clearing the way for the state and others to resume executions.
The decision in Glossip v. Gross means Oklahoma can use the sedative to carry out three pending executions and others in the future. Executions have been on hold in Oklahoma and most other states since the inmates challenged use of the drug midazolam following a botched execution.
Tulsa County’s quarter-cent jail sales tax may be used to pay for the day-to-day functions required or permitted by law to operate the Tulsa Jail, according to a state Attorney General’s opinion issued Thursday.
“We got exactly what we wanted, exactly what we wanted,” said attorney Jim Orbison.
Robert Bates is the focus of perhaps the most high-profile criminal case in Tulsa County. So how did almost everyone miss his court appearance Friday?
On this week’s podcast, host RJ Young talks with Frontier editor-in-chief Ziva Branstetter and Tulsa Voice columnist Barry Friedman about a monumental week at the U.S. Supreme Court, with decisions legalizing gay marriage nationwide and upholding a key provision of the Affordable Care Act. Also, why are some young Tulsans up in arms about a proposed loft development in the Brady Arts District? And will the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office continue to fight a petition with more than 6,000 valid signatures seeking a grand jury investigation of its operations?
Julie Alexander was among the parties eagerly watching the Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday. Had it gone the other way, the Supreme Court’s ruling in King v. Burwell could have added as many as 150,000 people to the already high number of uninsured Oklahomans.
Alexander would have been one of them
The legal wrangling over the 6,647 authenticated signatures seeking a grand jury investigation of the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office will extend into next week, following an order signed Thursday by District Judge Rebecca Nightingale.
And that legal wrangling, in part, will be paid for by the very people seeking the investigation in the first place.
On this week’s episode of Listen Frontier, senior staff writer Kevin Canfield and City Councilor/local entrepreneur Blake Ewing talk Tulsa: The future of Vision 2025, the Arkansas River, what Tulsa needs downtown and would Blake ever run for Mayor?