Discussion: How Oklahoma's Judicial System Failed Arab Family Who Lived In Fear Of Their Neighbor

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How Oklahoma's Judicial System Failed Arab Family Who Lived In Fear Of Their Neighbor How Oklahoma's Judicial System Failed Arab Family Who Lived In Fear Of Their Neighbor Back to article
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“There was no ankle monitor, no drug/alcohol testing, no restrictions on travel, no requirements to check-in with police or appear upon demand, no restrictions on driving, no vehicle breathalyzer, basically unconditional freedom,” Jenna Jabara said.

Because Mr. Majors is a white guy, Mr. Jabara was not, and Oklahoma is red as can be…

Colors matter…

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Judge LaFortune is not a pre-cog. How could he have surmised that a virulently racist and violent repeat offender posed a risk?

This is incompetence to the point of complicity, and if LaFortune doesn’t resign it will be another injustice perpetrated against this family.

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Comment from a Tulsa defense attorney (not Majors’s) regarding the judge’s decision to grant a low bail and not require an ankle monitor: “It doesn’t strike out as a horribly bad determination,” he said. “There are constitutional rights that have to be weighed here, when we’re talking about somebody who has not yet been convicted of the offense for which they’re being held.”

Typical of a defense attorney, he wants to preserve leniency for his future clients by not pissing in the soup. Sounds good in the abstract, but Majors fucking told the police he did it and wasn’t remorseful. The judge should have taken all the evidence into account.

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The prosecutor might be asked why the trial was set for March 2017. That’s 9 months from now. I can certainly understand that the judge that was a long pretrial detention. Speedy trial might have helped a bit.

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I wonder if that bail was provided through a bail bond. There’s an interesting series on bail bonds (linked through samefacts.com, iirc) that points out that someone getting arrested for a new crime is the best thing for a bonding company, because it cancels their previous obligation. And also that for someone acting criminal, a bail bond doesn’t do anything to deter future criminality or to guarantee appearance in court, because it’s a sunk cost.

So when the judge decided on a higher bail but no other conditions, that was way more conducive to bad behavior than a lower bail but sensible conditions.

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Failure, or feature?

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  • possibly - but that would be the job of a defense attorney - to frame out a more favorable scenario for the accused - that is the defense attorney’s responsibility - that is the duty that they take on - to be the advocate for the accused - and to also raise a voice to call for the assumption of innocent until proven guilty.

  • now that are other players in this situation who should be severely taken to task for not having been more aggressive in pursuing the perpetrator.

There are times where our judicial system seems a bit odd - but it works best when everyone is skilled and everyone does their job at a high level of competence. A defendant deserves an able defense attorney - the people deserve a skilled prosecutor - and they all deserve a judge with wisdom & common sense.

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The prosecutors tried, time and time again, to get the judge to keep the guy in check, but it was failure of the judge by any reasonable measure.

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Yes - a judge with wisdom & common sense would have been a huge help

This case is composed of many elements of total dysfunctionality - all attributable to the killer. - jealously, mental illness, domestic abuse, hideously controlled / uncontrolled diabetes, and more

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While one certainly doesn’t want to incarcerate someone for a long pretrial period if there’s a decent chance he’s going to be acquitted, the judge in this case appears to have ignored one of the eight enumerated factors in setting bail: likelihood of conviction.

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And nature of the alleged crime, particularly its violence.

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But this is Oklahoma, where there are very few able attorneys and not many judges with wisdom and common sense. Res ipsa loquitur.

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That’s true of the defense attorney, but not of a defense attorney not connected to the case. He had no duty to the defendant beyond what he owes to any other person.

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…Majors, who has a long rap sheet, is relatively new to the community and lives with his 76-year-old husband, Stephen Schmauss.

Well, that took a turn I wasn’t expecting.

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Another option would be to test for mental illness. It is simply an answer to the question, is the accused a danger to himself or others?? They could have held him without bail till the trial.

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Yeah, I did a double take at that too. my own biases peeking out.

Ah, well. Even violent Oklahoma bigots are allowed to be complex.