Michael Allen Browning: In 2003 a jury found him guilty and deserving of the death penalty for the murders of Harry and Teresa Hye. It recommended a life sentence for the shooting of their niece, Cenessa Tackett. Investigators said the three were shot during a robbery on Feb. 18, 2001, before their rural home was burned
A man who dodged the death penalty because of a successful appeal will soon be headed back to a Tulsa County courtroom.
A June 25 hearing is scheduled for Michael Allen Browning, 37.
Issues such as who will represent him at the retrial and which judge will handle the case, as well as scheduling matters, could be addressed at that court session before a Tulsa County judge.
In May, an appeals court affirmed a Tulsa federal judge's ruling to grant a new trial to Browning, who had been sentenced to die for the murders of a Glenpool couple.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a decision by U.S. Senior District Judge Terence Kern to overturn Browning's convictions and death sentences imposed at a 2003 trial.
Prosecutors did not appeal that federal court ruling but decided to prepare for a retrial, where the death penalty is expected to be an option again.
The 2003 jury that found Browning guilty decided that he deserved the death penalty for the murders of Harry and Teresa Hye and a life sentence for the shooting of their niece.
Investigators said Harry Hye, 64; his wife, Teresa Hye, 42; and their niece, Cenessa Tackett, then 21, were shot during a robbery Feb. 18, 2001, before their rural home was burned down.
Tackett, then pregnant with a child who she said was Browning's, was the prosecution's key trial witness.
Tackett indicated that Browning's co-defendant, Joel Shane Pethel, shot her and her aunt and uncle after the three were bound with tape and placed in a large closet, where she said Browning started a fire.
In 2011, Kern ruled that Browning was entitled to relief based on a pretrial ruling by a Tulsa County judge not to order the disclosure of Tackett's mental-health records.
Kern's ruling said the prosecution painted Tackett "as an immature young victim with learning disabilities" but that the disclosure of those records to the defense could have changed the way the jury viewed her credibility and her testimony.
The 10th Circuit's opinion says that what the defense did not know was that Tackett had been diagnosed with a severe mental disorder.
According to court minutes, the mental health records were turned over to then-Associate District Judge Deirdre Dexter to review for a determination on whether they should be turned over to the defense.
The judge's decision not to share them with the defense was affirmed by the state Court of Criminal Appeals.
The 10th Circuit wrote that the mental health information regarding Tackett was favorable to Browning and material to his defense and that the Oklahoma courts "could not have reasonably concluded otherwise."
Pethel pleaded guilty to the two murders plus other counts. His sentences include four consecutive life prison terms.
Bill Braun 918-581-8455
bill.braun@tulsaworld.com
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