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Okiegal123 Donating Member (35 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 12:51 PM
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Similarities are found in traffic stop, OHP cases
Similarities are found in traffic stop, OHP cases

http://www.tulsaworld.com/common/printerfriendlystory.aspx?articleID=070930_1_A1_hrpah05082

by: RHETT MORGAN World Staff Writer
9/30/2007


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Read two other stories related to a complaint against the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.


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A judge last year condemned the unsuccessful prosecution of a former Tulsan charged with perjury in connection with an Oklahoma Highway Patrol traffic stop.

The felony case originated from the trial of Emily Kelley, who was convicted in Bryan County and fined $50 for failing to change lanes when approaching a stationary emergency vehicle with flashing lights.

The case is similar to another controversy in which prosecutors have charged a woman because they dispute a sworn complaint she made against a different trooper.

Kelley, whose maiden name is Potter, was charged with perjury after her testimony about a conversation with OHP Trooper Steve Nabors wasn’t identical in wording and sequence to a videotape of the incident, court records show.

“This case had a peculiar air about it from the beginning, and the source of the odor is now apparent: Ms. Potter was charged with a felony offense in retaliation for her ‘attempt to discredit an officer of the law and the justice system,’ ” Choctaw County Associate District Judge Don Ed Payne wrote in February 2006.

Appointed as an out-of-county judge, Payne acquitted her of the perjury charge at a nonjury trial, adding that the substance of the defendant’s testimony “was consistent with the trooper’s version and videotape in all material respects.”

Payne, who died in December, wrote that it is hard to understand why Kelley was charged with perjury until he read the following language of the state’s argument: “. . . this case is in fact serious because of the defendant’s attempt to discredit an officer of the law and the justice system over something as simple as a traffic violation.”

Complaint filed: Another perjury case, this one involving Latisha White, is still brewing in nearby Carter County.

A native Oklahoman who lives in Louisiana, White filed an Oklahoma Department of Public Safety complaint in which she claims OHP Trooper Rocky Northcutt repeatedly cursed at her during a traffic stop of her sister on Sept. 3, 2006.

Oklahoma prosecutors claim audio/videotaped evidence backs Northcutt. Attorneys for White, who also has filed a civil lawsuit against Northcutt, claim the videotape is incomplete and that nothing their client swore to constitutes perjury. An extradition attempt of White was halted recently by the Louisiana state attorney general’s office.

Taken seriously: Tulsa attorney Rick White represented Kelley at her perjury trial. “The activity that resulted in this complaint was irrelevant to the charge against her,” he said. “You’ve got to be very careful when you make a complaint against the Department of Public Safety.

“My opinion is that they take it very seriously. They take it very personal. In this case, I think it was personal.” Kelley, who now lives in Mc- Kinney, Texas, is a registered nurse at a Dallas hospital. “It makes you think twice about what you can and cannot do,” she said of contesting a traffic ticket.

Kelley swore out a four-page complaint against the DPS on Feb. 3, 2006. In it, she admits that after viewing the videotape, her testimony was erroneous in several respects.

“However, in no instance was it my intent to speak falsely or with the intent to deceive the court or anyone else,” she wrote in her affidavit.

Wellon Poe, chief legal counsel for DPS, was unavailable for comment. But Gary James, an Oklahoma City attorney who represents the Oklahoma State Troopers Association, said he was unaware of the case until a reporter faxed it to him this past week.

James said he knows of no other perjury charge that has resulted from a defendant’s testimony in an OHP traffic ticket case.

“Somebody says a car is red and it’s burgundy,” he said. “That’s human nature, people’s perceptions, observations, etc. We have no intent of punishing or suing people or making them accountable for things that are based on difference of human observation.”

The difference between the Kelley and White cases is relevancy, the attorney said.

“What Latisha White is lying about is the issue in the case,” James said. “It’s not just material. It is the issue.” Latisha White alleges that Northcutt used the F-word five times in her affidavit. “That’s not a question of observation, or as Mr. (White’s civil attorney Chris) Roy says, ‘maybe mistakenly heard it.’ Mistaken is once.”

Videotape played: Returning from a visit to her fiance in College Station, Texas, Kelley was heading home to Tulsa on the evening of May 20, 2004.

Nabors, 46, was assisting at a minor wreck north of Caddo on U.S. 69. before 9 p.m. in Bryan County. Kelley, traveling alone with no vehicles around her, failed to move to the other lane when approaching an emergency vehicle with lights activated, as required by law, Nabors testified at the traffic citation trial.

At the trial on the traffic charge, the state played a videotape of the stop and devoted much of its closing statement to weighing Kelley’s credibility.

Assistant District Attorney Tim Webster told the judge he was being asked to choose between ignoring the “seven or eight lies that we have on tape” or believing Kelley’s two statements that she didn’t see the emergency vehicle and cars prevented her from moving over, a transcript shows.

According to court records, the state said discrepancies included:


Kelley testified that she initially asked the officer why she had been stopped, and Nabors responded, “You may not question me. You will do as you are told. You will give me your license and registration.”

The videotape showed that the trooper asked her for her license and registration, at which time she asked a question, to which he replied, “Yes, you give me your license and insurance, and I’ll explain it to you. You need to follow instructions right now.”


Kelley testified that she asked Nabors for his name when he asked her to sign the ticket, and he tapped where his name was on the ticket and said, “It’s right here.”

The tape indicated that he instructed her to sign the ticket, whereupon she said, “Is your name on this?” and he replied, “Right here.”


The videotape and Kelley concur that when the trooper returned to the car, she was on the cell phone to her father and that the trooper asked her to get off the phone and she tried to get him to talk to her father but he refused.


The discrepancy is between whether he said, “You mind getting off the phone?” or “You will get off the phone right now,” and whether Nabors said he didn’t have to identify himself to the father or said, “I’m not talking to anybody; I don’t need to talk to anybody,” a trial brief filed by White indicated.

Kelley was charged with perjury in October 2004.

Payne, in his verdict and findings, said that to constitute perjury, false testimony must be relevant to some material fact at issue in the case.

Payne wrote that it didn’t appear Kelley tried to discredit Nabors or the justice system, saying no evidence existed that Nabors acted improperly.

But even if she were trying to discredit a peace officer, “that is no crime, and she was well within what remains of the dwindling rights of an American citizen to do so without fear of imprisonment,” the judge wrote.


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Rhett Morgan 581-8395
rhett.morgan@tulsaworld.com



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Xipe Totec Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 01:00 PM
Response to Original message
1. well within what remains of the dwindling rights of an American citizen
Well spoken.


Kudos to the judge.
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Okiegal123 Donating Member (35 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 01:07 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. I agree with you
Kudos to the judge.

I just hope that Ms. White has a judge that believes the same.
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Coyote_Bandit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 01:39 PM
Response to Original message
3. I am soooooooo
looking forward to the day I see Oklahoma in my rear view mirror for the final time.....

Been here a long time. Know a lot of good folks here. But my future is not here. And most of my present is focused on building a better happier future elsewhere. Most of my family live outside Oklahoma. Objective quantative demographic and psychographic research shows better career opportunities for me elsewhere.

Stories like this motivate me to focus my efforts.
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Okiegal123 Donating Member (35 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 02:24 PM
Response to Reply #3
4. That is sad that you have to feel that way
Coyote_Bandit. I wish you luck and many happy trails.

Here is one Oklahoman view on the article and those that were related to it.

"I for one will not allow one red cent of MY tax dollars to spent trying to unleash tyranny upon a U.S citizen! Our roads suck!!!, our bridges suck even more!, Our schools really suck (as you can tell by the type in this comment, I am Oklahoma educated), our farms are facing disaster from all the stinking rain, our soldiers are being treated unfairly, and the tax rate is deplorable.... Thank God that Brad Henry has the stiff determination, and the resolve, to use any and all means , as well as funding, at his disposal to see that this terrible threat to the great people of OKLAHOMA, will be hunted down and extradicted back to the state she commited this terrible offense in! Meanwhile back at the Mc Donalds, I cannot even order a tea because they no habla englis...theres probably a bigger threat to my family and my wallet a block down the street! you go Tish, and I think we should file a petition for impeachment!!!!!!"


I would have to agree with the person who made that statement.....
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Coyote_Bandit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 05:05 PM
Response to Reply #4
5. No need to detail
the reasons for my feelings in this forum. I've been in Oklahoma a long time. I know there are good people here.

I'm investing between 20 and 40 hours a week learning new career skills and putting together a thorough business and marketing plan. A small business owner here has befriended me and is helping to acquire the trade skills I will require. My plan calls for starting a business in another state where most of my extended family members live and work. Some of those family members are aging and will likely require care in the foreseeable future. The area where they live still has a fairly strong economy. By objective measures I know taxes are lower there - and roads are better. I also know this is something that will take some time and effort to achieve.

I'm fortunate. I have the resources to entertain the possibility. I have a mentor. I have identified what appears to be a very viable niche market - a market where I have acquaintances. I enjoy the work. Relocating will being me closer to my extended family. I can't do that here in Oklahoma. When it happens - and it will - Oklahoma will be nothing more to me than a distant and bittersweet memory of a former life. That is what I mean when I talk about seeing Oklahoma in my rear view mirror.

Thanks for the good wishes.


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