A judge ruled Friday that three Sperry students accused of first-degree rape by instrumentation may be charged as adults, reversing a previous ruling supporting their status as youth in the justice system.
The youths are accused of assaulting a fourth student through his clothes with a hairbrush. They were charged as adults in January but had their charges dismissed by Magistrate Judge April Seibert in February.
Seibert ruled in February that the three students could not be charged as adults because Oklahoma law points to nuances when minors are involved. But on Friday, District Judge Clifford Smith said prosecutors could proceed with their original charge because the law lets district attorneys charge youth accused of first-degree rape as adults.
In his ruling, Smith cited a state statute that couples rape and rape by instrumentation together.
“There is a clear conflict in the language,” said Smith, who added that the case prompted him to interpret the state Legislature’s intent when they passed the law.
A preliminary hearing for the youth’s trial is set for March 26. But attorneys for the three youth said after the hearing that they plan to take Smith’s decision to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals.
After the hearing, District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler argued the legislature made it clear that “rape is rape” when they wrote the law.
“That was recognition by our legislature to say, ‘We’re not going to play a game of hyper-technicalities. We’re going to hold these people who commit these type of violent crimes accountable,’” Kunzweiler said.
"We looked at how that law was written, we looked at what the policy and intent was behind it, and while there’s conflicting language within the statute, we’re in agreement with what Judge Smith did.”
Kunzweiler declined to give reasons for trying the youth as adults in case his attorneys have to use that evidence in court.
M.J. Denman, an attorney representing one of the youth, accused Tulsa County prosecutors of imprudence. Denman said Kunzweiler should have prosecuted the accused as youth “instead of taking a metaphorical wrecking ball to three kids’ lives.”
Andrea Brown, another attorney for one of the accused youth, said she was “utterly disappointed” with Smith’s ruling.
"Your elected D.A. and your tax dollars want these boys to be convicted as adults and making them sex offenders, and it’s quite ridiculous,” Brown said.
The case has had ripple effects in Sperry schools — on Jan. 28, State Superintendent Ryan Walters suspended teaching certificates of three school officials he said didn’t properly report the incident. Students walked out of class in protest of the decision on Feb. 3.
A hearing on the teachers’ licenses is this month.
