Updated March 4, 7:40 p.m.
A Tulsa County jury on Thursday convicted a man accused of being the getaway driver after the shooting of two Tulsa police officers last summer.
In a verdict announced shortly before 4 p.m., the jury found 29-year-old Matthew Hall guilty on two counts of being an accessory to a felony. The jury recommended 12 years in prison on both counts out of a maximum 22.5 years.
Hall was accused of driving David Ware from the scene where he shot 26-year-old Ofc. Aurash Zarkeshan and 45-year-old Sgt. Craig Johnson in June 2020. Prosecutors said Hall also helped Ware get rid of the gun, though he later told detectives where to find it
Zarkeshan was seriously wounded. Johnson died. Ware will face trial separately.
Hall's attorney, Brian Martin, presented his client at trial as a drug addict who got caught up in a bad situation when his dealer, Ware, called for help after police pulled him over in east Tulsa. Martin noted that his client's actions didn’t actually help Ware escape.
Martin told reporters outside the courthouse after the verdict was announced he would have preferred a shorter recommended sentence, given his client has no prior felonies on his record.
"But it is what it is. The jury learned he doesn’t have a criminal history. They took all the facts into consideration, and they made their decision," Hall said.
Martin also said Thursday getting a number was "a relief." Before trial, he said it would be more about the sentence. Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler echoed that after the verdict was announced.
"We didn’t think this was really a whodunnit or a guilt or innocence issue. This was more about what’s the punishment for somebody that helps a murderer try and get away," Kunzweiler said.
Prosecutors argued at trial Hall made deliberate plans to aid Ware and just didn’t do a good job helping him. Kunzweiler will request for sentences to run consecutively, possibly putting Hall in prison for 24 years.
"While he may have been driving one location to get Mr. Ware out of there, we’re dealing with two separate victims. So, we feel pretty confident both those victims deserve the justice that the jury gave," Kunzweiler said.
Tulsa County District Judge William Musseman set sentencing for March 22. Hall will remain in the Tulsa County Jail until then.
Ware goes on trial this summer and could face the death penalty.
