The man charged with murder in the shooting death of a Tulsa Police sergeant and wounding of an officer will go to trial, but a judge has acknowledged there are inconsistencies between how police have described the encounter and what body cameras captured.
"We’re very happy that the judge said on the record that she’d seen the video and that there are contradictions between that arrest and book affidavit and what the video shows," said attorney Kevin Adams.
Adams represents David Ware, the man accused of shooting Sgt. Craig Johnson and Ofc. Aurash Zarkeshan in June. An affidavit inaccurately stated Ware stood over an injured Johnson and shot him three times. Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler said police quickly corrected that assertion.
"It’s not unusual for my office, nor is it even unusual for Mr. Adams to know and understand, that oftentimes, in the throes of a very exigent and rapidly evolving situation, somebody might put something down in a report that may not completely be consistent with what might be reflected on a video," Kunzweiler said.
Judge April Seibert maintained an order keeping private any video of Ware’s encounter with police. Adams, who already filed a failed motion to have the video released, continues to hold that position.
"When they tried this case in the press the first, you know, two days, three days, week, two weeks, and they got this false narrative out there and then it was just repeated over and over and over again and people, you know, start to make up their minds on that," Adams said. "That’s what’s so damaging about it and that’s why it’s so important to release the video."
Kunzweiler said a judge will decide what evidence goes to the jury and whether any video will ultimately be released to the public.
"The one thing that we should not be doing — any attorney should not be doing — is somehow trying to influence a prospective jury panel. So, it’s very offensive to me to see any attorney who’s out there trying to broadcast what they think the evidence is going to be," Kunzweiler said.
Kunzweiler also said attorneys for Matthew Hall have asked the video not be released. Hall faces an accessory charge for allegedly driving Ware away from the scene of the shooting.
Adams expects prosecutors will seek the death penalty for Ware.
