Local, area briefs
By Staff Reports
Saturday, October 06, 2012
10/06/12 at 3:04 AM
Tulsa man is arrested in mother's stabbing death
A Tulsa man was arrested Friday evening on an allegation that he stabbed his mother to death, police said.
Officers were dispatched about 3:30 p.m. to a home in the 3900 block of East 24th Street on reports of a "woman down," Sgt. Dave Walker said.
When emergency crews arrived, they found Veronica Stick, who had been stabbed, lying on the porch, Walker said.
Stick, 43, was taken by ambulance to St. John Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead about 4 p.m., Walker said.
Investigators focused on locating her son, William Mathew Stick, 20, who was not at the home at the time, Walker said.
William Stick's vehicle was found near South 36th Street and Peoria Avenue.
Officers searched the area and found William Stick on foot in the 2900 block of South Peoria, Walker said.
He was taken to the Police Department's Detective Division and questioned before he was arrested on one complaint of first-degree murder, Walker said.
The investigation is ongoing, and Walker said there was not enough information Friday night "to speculate on any motive."
JERRY WOFFORD World Staff Writer
Good Friday shootings court date pushed back
Arraignments have been rescheduled for Nov. 26 for two men who are charged with the shootings of five people on Good Friday.
The arraignments of Jacob Carl England and Alvin Lee Watts had been set for Oct. 22.
In a written request for a continuance filed this week, Tulsa County First Assistant District Attorney Doug Drummond indicated that postponing the arraignments for about a month would give prosecutors additional time to determine whether to pursue the death penalty.
England and Watts are both charged with three counts of first-degree murder and two counts of shooting with intent to kill.
England, 20, and Watts, 33, are accused of shooting five black people at four north Tulsa locations early April 6.
The defendants each face murder counts linked to the fatal shootings of Dannaer Fields, 49, Bobby Clark, 54, and William Allen, 31.
The shooting counts relate to two victims, David Hall and Deon Tucker, who survived.
England and Watts are also are charged with five misdemeanor counts of malicious intimidation or harassment because of race, color, ancestry or national origin.
Each of the five victims is listed as a victim in one of the alleged "hate crime" misdemeanors.
District Judge James Caputo will handle the Nov. 26 arraignments.
- BILL BRAUN, World Staff Writer
Charge expunged after probation is completed
A man who was accused of outraging public decency saw that misdemeanor count dismissed Friday upon completing a one-year probation.
An order of dismissal and expungment was granted by a Tulsa County judge after Joshua Shane Beach successfully concluded a one-year sentencing deferral.
Beach, now 28, had been charged with sexually battering and raping a woman in October 2009 at a Tulsa massage parlor where he worked.
Two felony counts against him - sexual battery and rape by instrumentation - were dismissed a year ago as part of an agreement with the District Attorney's Office in which Beach pleaded no contest to outraging public decency.
District Judge William Kellough made no finding of guilt when that plea was entered and dismissed the misdemeanor count Friday.
In the previously dismissed felony counts, Beach had been accused of touching a woman in a lewd manner and digitally penetrating her during a massage session.
First Assistant District Attorney Doug Drummond said a year ago that it became clear that proving a felony case "beyond a reasonable doubt would be difficult at best."
The dismissal order Friday means Beach incurred no conviction in the case.
- From Staff Reports
Reignited structure fires in Turley are investigated
TURLEY - Two structure fires that began Thursday evening in the community of Turley flared up again early Friday, requiring crews from three area fire departments.
The Tulsa Fire Department and the Oklahoma Air National Guard 138th Fighter Wing's Fire Department provided mutual aid to the Turley Fire Department on structure fires within blocks of one another that began about 6 p.m. Thursday.
A fire began in a field and spread to a vacant house in the 6000 block of North Frankfort Place, Tulsa Fire Capt. Stan May said.
An abandoned business building in the 6000 block of North Peoria Avenue, directly across the street from the Cherokee Elementary School building, also burned Thursday, according to the Turley Fire & Rescue Facebook page.
Firefighters responded at the same locations about 6 a.m. Friday to find both structures engulfed in flames.
The state Fire Marshal's Office is investigating the fires.
- AMANDA BLAND, World Staff Writer
Barnsdall chief in alleged alcohol-involved crash
BARTLESVILLE - Barnsdall Police Chief Matt Clark was involved in a single-vehicle traffic accident in which authorities allege alcohol was a factor early Friday.
Bartlesville Police Capt. Jay Hastings reported that an officer happened upon an overturned truck alongside Frank Phillips Boulevard about 3:30 a.m. Friday and found Clark, 25, trapped inside.
Clark was taken by ambulance to Jane Phillips Medical Center.
Hastings said alcohol is believed to be involved and that Clark was given a blood-alcohol test.
The police report gives no indication of Clark's injuries or their seriousness, and Barnsdall Mayor J.D. Cole said he didn't know the extent of Clark's injuries.
The accident report should be available early next week, Hastings said.
Clark has been Barnsdall's police chief since December and formerly was a deputy sheriff and jailer in Osage County.
He left the Osage County Sheriff's Office after Washington County deputies were called to his home in November 2011 on a report of domestic violence in which a woman's knee was injured.
The Washington County Sheriff's Office referred that case to the District Attorney's Office for possible prosecution, records show, but no charges were filed.
- Louise Red Corn, World Correspondent
