Best Buy witness back in custody; preliminary hearing in double homicide is Thursday
BY BILL BRAUN & AMANDA BLAND World Staff Writers
Saturday, October 27, 2012
10/27/12 at 7:21 AM
With a woman identified as a material witness again behind bars, Tulsa County prosecutors are gearing up to take the Best Buy double-homicide case into a courtroom next week.
Prosecutors plan to go forward with the presentation of testimony and other evidence at a preliminary hearing Thursday, District Attorney Tim Harris said Friday.
When questioned about jailed material witness Shania Craven, Harris declined to say whether she will be called to the witness stand Thursday. He indicated that the prosecution will call about half a dozen witnesses to testify.
However, when an arrest warrant for Craven was issued Sept. 28, Harris indicated in a court document that she was needed for the preliminary hearing of Willie Wise and Jeremy Lee Foster, who are both charged with murder in the case.
An arrest warrant was issued for Craven a month ago after she failed to maintain contact with authorities, court documents indicate.
The Northern Oklahoma Violent Crimes Task Force stopped her vehicle in Tulsa on Thursday after she was seen leaving the Bradford Square Apartments, 2442 E. 51st St., according to an arrest report.
Craven, 20, of Tulsa, had been arrested July 18 on complaints of accessory to murder after Scott Dewayne Norman and Graydon Wesley "Wes" Brown were fatally shot July 14 at the Best Buy store at 5520 E. Skelly Drive.
Brown, 58, was shopping with his 10-year-old daughter inside the store when he was hit by gunfire from outside.
Investigators believe that Norman, 34, who was outside, was the target of the gunshots.
Wise, 20, and Foster, 22, are each charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
In a document, Harris alleges that Wise "stalked" Norman in the Best Buy parking lot in broad daylight and fired the shots that killed Norman and Brown.
Craven has said she was in the vehicle in which Foster and Wise were riding, police reported.
Craven, who was in jail on the accessory complaint, was released from the requirement that she be held without bail when a prosecutor advised a special judge Aug. 8 that the District Attorney's Office had not filed any charge against her.
Listed as a material witness, she was released from jail on $2,500 bond Aug. 8, records show.
After her release, Craven relocated to another state and was in contact with FBI agents regarding her location. But she later left that location and failed to maintain contact, Harris indicated in his Sept. 28 application for her arrest as a material witness.
In court Friday, District Judge Bill Musseman ordered Craven held without bail as a material witness. According to a court record, Musseman will reconsider a conditional release Nov. 2, the day after the preliminary hearing is scheduled.
Original Print Headline: Best Buy witness back in custody
Bill Braun 918-581-8455
bill.braun@tulsaworld.com
Amanda Bland 918-581-8413
amanda.bland@tulsaworld.com
Associated Images:
Shania Craven: After failing to maintain contact with police, the material witness is again behind bars. She is being held without bail.
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