September Editorial Winner

Time to appoint a new DA

By Mike McCormick, The Lincoln County News

It’s time that Gov. Kevin Stitt makes a decision and appoints a new District Attorney for the 23rd judicial district that includes Lincoln and Pottawatomie Counties.

District Attorney Allan Grubb resigned in August citing major health concerns that have arisen for both him and with family members. He also voluntarily and irrevocably consented to an unqualified suspension from his office shortly after a Multi-County grand jury recommended his removal from office.

Several cases in Lincoln County come to mind that we question whether or not justice was served. That’s because those cases were not taken before a jury.

Two major felony cases were set for trial after the defendant in each had been bound over at the conclusion of a preliminary hearing, only to see each case dismissed within days of each other.

One was a first degree murder charge where the defendant not only had been bound over but the local DA’s office also had won a stand your ground defense motion. 

It was set to go to trial in June and then the DA dismissed the case shortly before trial.

In another case, the defendant faced multiple first degree rape counts.

During his arraignment before District Judge Cindy Ashwood, the defendant entered a plea of not guilty. 

Records show that on June 3, during a jury trial call docket before Judge Ashwood, the parties announced they were ready for trial and the judge stated the cause would be first up at 9 a.m. on June 6.

Later that afternoon, again appearing before Judge Ashwood, an Assistant District Attorney moved to dismiss the case with costs, announcing he “didn’t think he could prove his case.”

Luckily, in both these cases, Judge Ashwood declined to dismiss them with costs and dismissed them without costs meaning both defendants in these cases can be tried by another prosecutor.

Two separate cases involving alleged illegal marijuana grow operations were also dismissed just earlier this month.

And yet in another case, a defendant who was charged with two felonies of assaulting two Stroud police officers, was allowed to plead guilty in May, drew two deferred prison terms and earlier this month was arrested on another felony by Stroud police.

According to a source, there were 18 felony criminal cases on the docket for the September two-week jury term in Pottawatomie County that will wrap up Friday.

Of those, four were allowed to plead out. Another six were continued. Two were announced ready for trial.

Two more were set for non-jury trial, but there were no non-jury trials. 

Two cases were remanded back for additional preliminary hearings.

In a misdemeanor trial last week, the jury found the defendant not guilty.