TJ
09-02-2003, 08:48 PM
http://www.claremoreprogress.com/phpwebsite/article.php?sid=9869
The man who gunned down Catoosa Police Chief J.B. Hamby about 25 years ago won’t be getting out of prison any time soon.
David Gordon Smith, convicted by a Rogers County jury and sentenced to life in prison, didn’t make it past the first stage of the state pardon and parole board’s three stage hearing last week.
An official of the board said the vote was 3-2, the same as it was in May 2001 when he was denied parole.
Only written comments were presented at the first stage hearing, according to a new law.
Hamby died when he rushed to answer a burglary alarm in the Catoosa tag agency. He chased the suspects out of the tag office and fell dead from gunshot wounds at a nearby laundromat.
Smith was captured later in the day after seeking medical treatment at a Tulsa hospital.
Rogers County District Attorney Gene Hayes, who submitted written comments in protest to Smith’s release, had not heard of the decision Saturday morning.
Young enough at the time of Hamby’s killing to barely remember it, Haynes was thrown into the case when Smith sought post-conviction relief.
Former Nowata County Judge Jim Sontag issued a ruling denying post conviction relief.
Smith escaped from prison and was on the lam about eight years before being captured in Spearfish, S.D., identified from the television series “Unsolved Mysteries.”
When he came up for parole in 2001, Patrick Morgan, who retired as Oklahoma County District Attorney Bob Macy’s first assistant, was one of the two who voted for parole.
Under the new state law, if an inmate makes it through the first stage of a hearing, the second stage meeting is set for public comments. The final stage is signing by the governor.
Ordinarily an inmate would not be on the parole docket so soon after denial, Hamby’s brother, David, learned.
Several members of the Rogers County jury responded angrily about the application for post conviction relief and personal calls they had from Smith’s wife in which she questioned their decision.
Married while he was serving in prison before his escape, his wife was with him when he was captured in South Dakota.
Some of the same members of the jury were also angered over this parole hearing.
David Hamby, who has followed the escape, recapture and parole hearings, was not available for comment at presstime.
The man who gunned down Catoosa Police Chief J.B. Hamby about 25 years ago won’t be getting out of prison any time soon.
David Gordon Smith, convicted by a Rogers County jury and sentenced to life in prison, didn’t make it past the first stage of the state pardon and parole board’s three stage hearing last week.
An official of the board said the vote was 3-2, the same as it was in May 2001 when he was denied parole.
Only written comments were presented at the first stage hearing, according to a new law.
Hamby died when he rushed to answer a burglary alarm in the Catoosa tag agency. He chased the suspects out of the tag office and fell dead from gunshot wounds at a nearby laundromat.
Smith was captured later in the day after seeking medical treatment at a Tulsa hospital.
Rogers County District Attorney Gene Hayes, who submitted written comments in protest to Smith’s release, had not heard of the decision Saturday morning.
Young enough at the time of Hamby’s killing to barely remember it, Haynes was thrown into the case when Smith sought post-conviction relief.
Former Nowata County Judge Jim Sontag issued a ruling denying post conviction relief.
Smith escaped from prison and was on the lam about eight years before being captured in Spearfish, S.D., identified from the television series “Unsolved Mysteries.”
When he came up for parole in 2001, Patrick Morgan, who retired as Oklahoma County District Attorney Bob Macy’s first assistant, was one of the two who voted for parole.
Under the new state law, if an inmate makes it through the first stage of a hearing, the second stage meeting is set for public comments. The final stage is signing by the governor.
Ordinarily an inmate would not be on the parole docket so soon after denial, Hamby’s brother, David, learned.
Several members of the Rogers County jury responded angrily about the application for post conviction relief and personal calls they had from Smith’s wife in which she questioned their decision.
Married while he was serving in prison before his escape, his wife was with him when he was captured in South Dakota.
Some of the same members of the jury were also angered over this parole hearing.
David Hamby, who has followed the escape, recapture and parole hearings, was not available for comment at presstime.