Local, State briefs
BY Staff Reports
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
2/26/13 at 3:05 AM
Tulsa woman charged with murder in shooting death
A first-degree murder charge was filed Monday against a Tulsa woman who is accused of fatally shooting a woman earlier this month.
Chiquita Bianca Bulger, 23, is charged in Tulsa County District Court.
Prosecutors allege that she shot 22-year-old Emily Clark in the head at the Addison Apartments, 10114 E. Admiral Blvd., on Feb. 10, court documents state.
A witness told police Clark was sitting on a bar stool in an apartment when Bulger approached the woman from behind and shot her, police said in an arrest report.
Police believe that a 9 mm handgun they recovered from a Dumpster was used to kill Clark, the report says.
Bulger told witnesses she shot Clark because the victim had "snitched," the report says. However, police say they have yet to determine the motive for the shooting.
Detectives said Bulger gave inconsistent statements after first saying she was alone with Clark in the apartment when someone else shot the woman, the report indicates.
Clark, who relocated to Tulsa from Neosho, Mo., had spoken with police earlier that day during "a mundane police contact," Sgt. Dave Walker said.
Bulger is in the Tulsa Jail held without bail.
- KENDRICK MARSHALL, World Staff Writer
3-month-old girl's bones broken; mother is charged
A woman who is accused of breaking two of her baby's bones was jailed on a child-abuse complaint Saturday.
Jessica Lynn Newell, 18, of Tulsa told police she was changing her 3-month-old daughter's diaper when the child "called out loudly and continued to do so."
The baby was taken to St. Francis Hospital, where a pediatrician found that she had a spiral fracture to her left femur and a broken collarbone, according to Newell's arrest report.
The pediatrician "determined that the force used to cause this type of injury is excessive and represents child physical abuse," the arresting officer wrote.
Newell reportedly told police she had "possibly pick(ed) up the child's leg too hard" but said she did not do so in anger.
She remained in the Tulsa Jail on Monday in lieu of $50,000 bail.
- AMANDA BLAND, World Staff Writer
Tulsa woman accused of whiskey-bottle assault
Tulsa police are looking for a woman who is accused of assaulting her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend with a whisky bottle in October.
Prosecutors charged Christy Michelle Stigler, 30, of Tulsa with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on Feb. 13, court filings show.
Stigler is accused of striking Carissa Anne Stewart with a whisky bottle during an altercation on Oct. 18.
The women apparently were fighting over Stigler's boyfriend, who was Stewart's ex-boyfriend, Officer Jillian Roberson said.
Stewart's thumb was cut with the bottle and required stitches, Roberson said.
Stigler was named the Tulsa Police Department's Most Wanted fugitive Monday.
Anyone with information regarding her whereabouts is asked to contact Crime Stoppers by telephone at 918-596-COPS, online at tulsaworld.com/crimestoppers or via text message at CRIMES. Text tips should begin with "Tip918."
Tipsters can be anonymous and could receive a reward.
- AMANDA BLAND, World Staff Writer
Northwest Broken Arrow home is damaged by fire
BROKEN ARROW - A house in northwest Broken Arrow sustained significant damage in a fire Monday.
The fire in the 4400 block of West Princeton Place appears to have started in the garage and spread into the walls and attic, said Broken Arrow Assistant Fire Chief James Annas.
No one was injured in the blaze, Annas said.
The fire was reported shortly after 2 p.m., and two crews from the Tulsa Fire Department were called for mutual assistance, Annas said.
High winds caused the fire to flare up a few times, but a cold rain helped keep it from spreading beyond the house, Annas said.
The garage area was significantly damaged, but an assessment of damage inside the house was unavailable.
- JERRY WOFFORD, World Staff Writer
Fort Sill soldier pleads out during trial in child's death
OKLAHOMA CITY - A soldier on trial for the starvation death of a 10-year-old boy at an Oklahoma Army post pleaded guilty Monday to a first-degree murder charge to avoid a possible death sentence.
Pvt. Connell C. Williams, 33, entered the guilty plea at the federal courthouse in Lawton as prosecutors were preparing to present more evidence to a 12-member jury that began hearing testimony Thursday, according to court officials.
Williams was indicted on a first-degree murder charge by a federal grand jury in the May 5, 2011, death of Marcus Holloway, the son of Williams' girlfriend, at Fort Sill in southwestern Oklahoma.
Federal prosecutors were seeking the death penalty.
In a written statement to the jury, U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot said Williams' plea in the "heart-rending" case had brought the jury's service "to a premature end." If the jury had found Williams guilty, it would have then decided whether to sentence him to death or life in prison.
Friot told the jurors the decision to allow Williams to plead guilty to first-degree murder in exchange for a life prison sentence without the possibility of release was made by the U.S. Department of Justice with the required approval of Attorney General Eric Holder and is "a decision with which I respectfully disagree."
U.S. Attorney Sandy Coats said Williams' guilty plea assures he will spend the rest of his life in a federal prison cell "and never again harm a child."
"Although nothing can bring Marcus back, I am gratified that Connell Williams has accepted responsibility for his crime," Coats said.
An indictment handed up in September 2011 accused Williams and the boy's mother, Candice Holloway, 32, of depriving the boy of food over a period of about four months until he starved to death. Holloway previously pleaded guilty to first-degree murder as part of a plea agreement in which she will serve 30 years in federal prison. She also had agreed to testify against Williams.
- FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Associated Images:
Smoke billows from a house in the 4400 block of West Princeton Place in northwest Broken Arrow as a fire burns on Monday. See story below. JERRY WOFFORD / Tulsa World
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