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"The Eyes Of The World Are Watching Now"
Tyrone Peter Darks
A federal judge has overturned the conviction and death penalty of an Oklahoma City man found guilty in 1995 of murdering his ex-wife. U.S. District Judge Tim Leonard ruled Tyrone Darks did not receive a fair trial because of "numerous errors." The state attorney general's office is considering whether to appeal Leonard's decision to the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Darks, 36, was found guilty and given the death penalty by a Cleveland County jury for the 1994 slaying of his former wife, Sherry Goodlow, 26. She was found shot to death in her car near Lake Stanley Draper.
The divorced couple had been involved in a custody battle over their 2-year-old son.
Leonard ruled Darks was entitled to a new trial because the jury was not given the option of finding him guilty of manslaughter instead of murder. There is evidence Darks may have acted in the "heat of passion" and the slaying was not premeditated, the judge said.
On the day Goodlow was killed, she and Darks were again fighting about their son, Leonard said. Statements from investigators indicate they believed her death resulted from an "out of control confrontation" between the 2, he said.
"Thus there was significant evidence to support an instruction on 1st-degree manslaughter," Leonard's order states.
The trial judge, District Judge Bill Hetherington Jr., had ruled the evidence showed premeditation. He would not allow the jury to consider the lesser offense of manslaughter.
Leonard also ruled Darks' death sentence was "influenced by the coercive actions taken by the trial judge."
After jurors had been deliberating 4 1/2 hours during the sentencing phase, Hetherington summoned them into the courtroom and polled them. Jurors reported their vote was 11-1.
The judge then told jurors if they could not reach an unanimous decision, he would be forced to impose a penalty of life in prison, possibly without parole. Jurors returned less than 20 minutes later with a death sentence.
Leonard also cited several other errors in Darks' trial that he said alone might not warrant reversal, but the cumulative effect resulted in an unfair trial.
Leonard noted there was
nothing in the evidence that persuades him to believe Darks is innocent,
but he received a trial in which "some of his most basic rights were ignored."
Please bring awareness and attention to this miscarriage of justice.
Media attention and support for Legal Defense Fund should be
sent
to me and my attorney :
TYRONE PETER DARKS LEGAL
DEFENSE FUND
c/o Attorney Leslie K. Delk
PO Box 5676
Norman Oklahoma 73070
(405) 573 4023
The State of Oklahoma had no physical
evidence to link me to the crime. The states eyewitnesses put me away from
the crime scene even though there was major contradictions in the states
eyewitness testimony. My alibi was valid. The best that the state
could do was use the testimony of a jail house informant who was facing a
minimum of 60 years in prison but was handed
probation and a six year suspended sentence for his testimony. He was
in jail for selling stolen merchandise to a pawn shop.
I never owned a gun in my life. The State of Oklahoma lied when they arrested me. No probable cause. Warrantless arrest. False detainment. Falsified police reports to cover up their mistakes. Ignored 2 911 emergency calls that my wife placed before her death which could have saved her life if the Oklahoma City Police Department would have answered the calls when placed. Even with no evidence the State of Oklahoma was able to get a conviction out of all white jury.
That was a bad time for anyone going to
court in Oklahoma. You just had the controversy OJ Simpson not guilty
verdict plus the Oklahoma City bombing. During my trial, Assistant
District Attorney Rick Sitzman made unnecessary comments comparing my case
to the OJ Simpson case, Oklahoma City Bombing, and the famous Theodore Ted
Bundy case. What irritates me is how the newspaper and media says it
costs over 100,000 to defend a death penalty case from start to finish (
If I had the
money they said my attorney gets I would
have been set free a long time ago. )
Tyrone Peter Darks
239667
SE 80
PO Box 97
McAlester, Oklahoma
74502 USA
I wonder where these people get their
figures from. Because of state paying my attorney late, and holding
back money she is owed, not paying her all the money they owe her,
she has to pay off a 2000.00 plus phone bills from clients not to mention
costs of coming to visit. She has been left in financial disaster from
doing death row cases, behind in bills, house mortgage, land mortgage.
She had to take on a minimum wage job 5.15 an hour full time just to make
ends meet ! To make matters worse the State of Oklahoma is deliberately
making my attorney unable to properly do her job
because of not paying her the money she
is owed. For doing these cases and they won't give her the funds to
hire people that can help prove my innocence. At the moment we need
to hire a forensic pathologist expert, private investigator, and a crime
scene reconstructurist. They won't have much work to do because
I'm innocent. And the State Attorney Generals office just admitted
that I was innocent.
People say that the United States discriminates.
That's untrue. Under this justice system you are guilty until you
can buy your way out of it or they try to force you to plea bargain.
Assistant District Attorney Rick Sitzman for the Court of Cleveland County
in the first 5 minutes of opening arguments knew his case was so weak he
tried to get me to plead guilty and they would not seek the death penalty
against me. I told the man, what kind of fool do you think I am ? Plead
guilty when I am innocent. What irritates me is that the only people
that are getting action on their cases are
people who admitted to a court, police,
and signed a confession saying they are guilty of a crime, these are the
people who are getting new trials and all the financial support for their
cause and media attention and celebrities, "stars" supporting their cause
when they themselves have admitted to their guilt.
Before the state of Oklahoma ruined my life I was a proud father of a 2 year old church goer, good job, working on a masters in management, engaged to be remarried, devoted family.
Here is a direct response that the state
of Oklahoma has filed on my case CIV98538L Assistant Attorney General Robert
Whittaker and Oklahoma State Bureau Investigator OSBI just told United States
Western district Oklahoma City Judge Tim Leonard "There is no evidence
on this case. There was never any investigation done by
any law enforcement agency in Oklahoma
on this case, the reason MR. DARKS was charged was because he showed no remorse"
(innocent people don't show remorse for a crime they didn't do.) Bitter
divorce, child custody battle. MR. DARKS was wrongfully convicted.
After many direct attempts to obtain my immediate release from Oklahoma's Governor Frank Keating, Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmundson, US Judge Tim Leonard, refuse to release me.
Oklahoma corrects their mistakes by executing people.
Age 35, Aug. 26 - 6'2", light brown complexion.
African American. Single parent.
Son age 7. Christian. Single,
marriage minded. Army National Guard - College Graduate 1991 University
of Central Oklahoma. BA degree in Political Science. I am innocent
and need immediate help! Right now I need to replace my TV set.
Tyrone Peter Darks
239667
SE 80
PO Box 97
McAlester, Oklahoma
74502 USA
The CCADP offers free webpages to over 500 Death Row Prisoners
Contact us for more information.
"The Eyes Of The World Are Watching Now"