Attorneys for two Sperry teens are considering taking their case to a higher court after a ruling preserving their adult charges Wednesday.
The two youth are accused of assaulting a third youth with a hairbrush through his clothes. They’ve been charged as adults with rape by instrumentation.
Magistrate Judge April Seibert dismissed the adult charges in February, citing nuances in the law when minors are involved.
District Judge Clifford Smith reinstated the adult charges the following month, pointing to a state statute that couples rape and rape by instrumentation together. District attorneys in Oklahoma may charge youth accused of first-degree rape as adults.
Smith acknowledged in the reinstatement of adult charges that there was “a clear conflict in the language” of the statutes.
M.J. Denman, an attorney for one of the youth, pointed to Smith’s acknowledgement of the language conflict in his attempt to get Seibert to move the case to juvenile court. But Seibert told attorneys for the accused on Wednesday she couldn’t go against the higher court.
Denman said the legal team might now look to the state Court of Criminal Appeals.
“I’m of the belief that if you’re under remedy or relief to find yourself being charged as a youthful offender, that you have an obligation to ask the court of criminal appeals, ‘Are we in the wrong place at the wrong time?’” Denman said.
Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler said he doesn’t think the teens’ legal team will get a favorable ruling at the state level.
Kunzweiler also called the defense’s attempts to reinstate youth charges “a waste of time.”
“I’m wondering, why are we doing this? We’ve already had a judge who got appealed by a district court. That judge rendered its ruling,” Kunzweiler said. “Judge Seibert clearly said, ‘I’m not going to reverse what Judge Cliff Smith did.’ And we should have been doing a preliminary hearing today.”
Brian Boeheim, an attorney for one of the youth, argued Kunzweiler’s team could have filed the case in juvenile court and argued to move the case up.
“What’s drawing it out is their language and their manipulation of the law,” said Boeheim.
Kunzweiler said prosecutors are ready to present evidence of the alleged crime in court.
Denman said Wednesday he would not comment on the facts of the case.
The district attorney’s office in March dropped charges against a third youth originally charged in the case.
