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Thread: Gregory Jerome Epperson Sentenced to LWOP in 2017 OK Murder of Kelsey Tennant

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    Gregory Jerome Epperson Sentenced to LWOP in 2017 OK Murder of Kelsey Tennant


    Kelsey Tennant





    Tulsa could hand down its first death sentence in 8 years as state moves to make woman's slaying a capital case

    By Samantha Vicent
    Tulsa World

    The Tulsa County District Attorney's Office on Monday filed its intent to seek the death penalty against a man accused in a young woman's strangulation death, marking the first time prosecutors have asked for the maximum sentence since 2012's Good Friday shootings.

    Gregory Jerome Epperson, 41, is expected to appear in court Oct. 9 for arraignment before District Judge Doug Drummond on charges of first-degree murder in the March 20 homicide of 19-year-old Kelsey Tennant and assault against her boyfriend, Riley Allen, inside her east Tulsa apartment.

    Epperson's case is the first death penalty case in Tulsa County under District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler's purview since his election in 2014.

    If the case goes to trial and a jury unanimously recommends a death sentence, Epperson would be the first person in Tulsa County to face lethal injection since Raymond Johnson, who was sentenced to death in 2009 for the 2007 slayings of a woman and her baby.

    "The decision to file the Bill of Particulars was not one taken lightly by me or my office but was made after several months of careful consideration," Kunzweiler said in a statement. "As with all cases, Mr. Epperson is presumed innocent under the law until a judge or jury determines otherwise."

    In asking for a death sentence as an option against Epperson, Kunzweiler and Assistant District Attorney Kevin Gray argue the beating and strangling of Tennant is especially atrocious, heinous or cruel. The two have mentioned previously an older unrelated murder case against Epperson, which was dropped partly over evidence concerns, as a sign Epperson will likely continue to commit acts of violence and be a threat to society.

    Also, Allen told Gray during a June 13 preliminary hearing that Epperson attacked him from behind when he entered the apartment after Tennant had already been attacked there. Allen said he was able to break free from Epperson's attempts to choke him and managed to get outside the residence to ask his neighbor, a friend of Epperson's, for help.

    Special Judge Deborrah Ludi-Leitch ordered Epperson to stand trial after the preliminary hearing. Since then his arraignment has been postponed twice while Epperson's legal team, provided to him as an indigent defendant, gathered evidence in hopes of dissuading the state from requesting capital punishment.

    Defense attorney Brian Boeheim represented Epperson during his preliminary hearing, but on July 25 Drummond appointed attorneys Shena Burgess and Beverly Atteberry, who have experience in capital cases, after receiving word the state might file a bill of particulars.

    Burgess said Monday that the defense had not yet presented its mitigation evidence to the state. She did not comment on the merits of Kunzweiler's and Gray's request but said she anticipates filing a motion this week to quash the decision ordering Epperson to face trial.

    She said she is also still in the process of receiving discovery, or evidence, from the state in the case.

    Capital cases in Oklahoma

    When prosecutors seek the death penalty against a defendant, they are required to submit a bill of particulars to the trial judge before trial court arraignment. As part of its process, the state will evaluate such areas as the strength of the case, the wishes of the victim's family and mitigating evidence gathered by the defendant's attorneys, such as life history or cognitive issues.

    Although neither Kunzweiler nor Gray have reviewed mitigation evidence on Epperson's behalf, Burgess said they encouraged her to provide them with any information the defense compiles. She said the length of time she's been on the case hasn't been enough to complete that work, as the defense is still working to obtain records about Epperson's past.

    "I'm still doing my due diligence," Burgess said. "This is (about) 6 months old, but we've only been in it for about a month. So we're doing everything we would have done in the first month of filing before (preliminary hearing.)"

    Typically, both sides will have at least two attorneys in the courtroom for a capital trial. It's not yet clear which assistant district attorney, if anyone, will work with Gray on Epperson's case; he has never taken a death penalty case to trial.

    State law also mandates that those ordered to die are automatically entitled to appellate reviews of their convictions and sentences.

    Kunzweiler's office considered the death penalty against 20-year-old Robert Bever, who was 18 when he and his brother Michael Bever were charged in the 2015 stabbing deaths of their parents and three siblings.

    However, Robert Bever pleaded guilty and received consecutive life-without-parole sentences. Michael Bever, who was 16 when he was arrested, is statutorily ineligible for the death penalty.

    A bill of particulars has not been filed since then-District Attorney Tim Harris did so in January 2013 against Jacob England and Alvin Watts. The two were charged with first-degree murder in four north Tulsa shootings on Good Friday in 2012, which prosecutors said targeted black people in a hate crime.

    England and Watts took plea deals in exchange for prosecutors withdrawing the bill of particulars. They are serving life without parole. Burgess, who is one of a handful of death penalty-qualified attorneys in the area, handled Watts' case.

    Tulsa County prosecutors have filed bills of particulars in nine cases since 2007, five of which were resolved before trial with plea deals of life without parole. Two of those resolutions were for England and Watts.

    The last capital case that went to trial in Tulsa County was against Darren Price, who was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the September 2011 Hicks Park homicides. A jury in 2014 recommended two life-
    without-parole terms, which prosecutors said at the time was possibly due to Price's young age — 19 — at the time of the incidents.

    Harris' administration also sought the death penalty in 2012 against Zane Atchison and Joel Pina for the August 2011 deaths of two people in a reported murder-for-hire scheme.

    Pina pleaded guilty in 2014 to amended charges of solicitation to commit murder and accessory after the fact. He received a life sentence with the possibility of parole.

    Atchison took his case to a jury, which recommended life-without-parole sentences in 2013. He was sentenced in September of that year.

    After Oklahoma's last execution in January 2015, when Charles Warner was put to death, questions and problems with the state's lethal injection protocol led to death row inmate Richard Glossip receiving a last-minute stay in September 2015.

    It effectively put a moratorium in place until 2018 as the Attorney General's Office said it will wait at least 150 days after receiving an updated lethal injection protocol from the Oklahoma Department of Corrections to put any inmates on a schedule for execution.

    The DOC has given no indication of its readiness to continue lethal injections as of the Attorney General's Office's Aug. 31 status report filed with the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals.

    http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/court...0b3a4ac71.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Tulsa man pleads not guilty in strangulation of 19-year-old woman; death penalty trial set for spring

    By Samantha Vicent
    Tulsa World

    A Tulsa man pleaded not guilty in the strangulation death of a 19-year-old woman and attack on her boyfriend inside the couple’s southeast Tulsa apartment, setting the stage for a capital trial to begin in May.

    Gregory Jerome Epperson, 41, was arraigned Monday on charges that he strangled Kelsey Tennant and attempted to do the same to her boyfriend, Riley Allen, on March 20.

    The Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office had already filed a Bill of Particulars noting the state's intent to seek the death penalty in Epperson's case, the first time prosecutors have asked for the maximum sentence since 2012’s Good Friday shootings.

    The Bill of Particulars was read Monday in court, and a defense motion to quash the bindover for trial was overruled. Epperson will be tried on charges of first-degree murder and felony assault, with jury trial set for May 14.

    Tennant was a 2015 Broken Arrow High School graduate who later studied at Tulsa Community College with the goal of learning to be a therapist for people with special needs.

    An arrest report indicated Tennant’s neck had ligature marks, and an autopsy report says Tennant’s cause of death was asphyxia by strangulation

    Allen said during a preliminary hearing that he called Tennant but didn’t get a response, which prompted him to knock on the front door and then use his key to open it. He said that’s when Epperson attacked him from behind, shoved him down a short flight of stairs and began to choke him.

    Homicide Sgt. Dave Walker said in March that police initially believed Tennant’s arrival at the apartment surprised Epperson amid a break-in attempt but later said it was possible Epperson ambushed her when she got home and therefore gained access to the residence.

    Epperson's next court hearing is set for Feb. 12.

    http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/court...2c3bfb006.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Death penalty trial may be delayed in slaying of 19-year-old Tulsa woman

    By Samantha Vicent
    Tulsa World

    The capital trial for a man charged in the March strangulation death of a 19-year-old woman in southeast Tulsa could be moved back while both sides continue to gather evidence.

    Gregory Jerome Epperson, 42, faces the death penalty over the homicide of Kelsey Tennant, which occurred March 20 inside an apartment Tennant shared with her boyfriend, Riley Allen. Epperson also is charged with felony assault and battery related to allegations he tried to kill Allen during a struggle that ensued when Allen tried to check on Tennant.

    The case marked the first time the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office has asked for consideration of capital punishment since filing charges in the 2012 Good Friday shootings.

    In a status hearing Monday afternoon, District Judge Doug Drummond said he wasn’t yet going to officially move Epperson’s trial, currently set for mid-May, to another date but wanted to set aside the two weeks beginning Aug. 27 as an alternative.

    Drummond said he did not believe it would be realistic to start the trial in May due to outstanding evidence exchange obligations and also the need for both sides to argue over dozens of pretrial motions the defense filed Friday.

    Lead defense attorney Shena Burgess said she intends to file additional motions leading up to the trial and noted she is still in need of several items of evidence related to prior criminal action against her client. Epperson was charged with murder in 2015, but the case was later dismissed, and prosecutors said Monday that they will provide evidence in that case to the defense in anticipation of using it in the current case.

    Drummond ordered the state to respond to the already-filed defense motions by March 22, and a hearing is set for March 29.

    http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/court...d5278dfd9.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Judge in Tulsa death-penalty case could hear about attorney conflict involving jailhouse informants

    Jailhouse informants, defendant connected to same law firm

    By Samantha Vicent
    Tulsa World

    The judge presiding over the capital trial for a man charged with strangling a 19-year-old woman in her south Tulsa apartment could hear evidence next month relating to newly received information about two jailhouse informants having professional contact with the same law firm that represented the man during his preliminary hearing.

    Gregory Jerome Epperson, 42, faces the death penalty in the March 2017 death of Kelsey Tennant and is scheduled for trial in May. However, District Judge Doug Drummond said last month that it is unlikely a May trial setting would be realistic based on outstanding evidence exchange obligations and possible arguments over numerous pretrial motions. He announced a backup trial date for late August.

    Epperson’s case is the first death penalty proceeding filed by the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office since it asked for consideration of capital punishment for the defendants in the 2012 Good Friday shootings.

    The defense last month filed dozens of motions relating to such issues as the admissibility of victim impact evidence, the constitutionality of the death penalty and the methods in which juries for such cases are empaneled. Drummond has already overruled or taken under advisement the majority of those motions but has yet to decide on items relating to the punishment stage or victim impact testimony.

    Prosecutors on Thursday filed their initial notices of evidence they intend to put before a jury if Epperson is found guilty, which includes a detailed description of Tennant’s injuries, Epperson’s reported behavior after the strangling occurred, victim impact evidence from Tennant’s immediate family and information about a previous homicide in which police considered Epperson a suspect.

    That case was dismissed shortly before trial. He is also charged in the current case with committing felony assault and battery against Tennant’s boyfriend.

    During a motion hearing Thursday morning, defense attorney Shena Burgess announced that she became aware last week of a new witness who plans to say Epperson, while in jail, admitted involvement in Tennant’s death and in a related attack on Tennant’s boyfriend.

    She said there is a conflict of interest because that defendant, who is in custody on an unrelated rape and human trafficking case, is represented by an attorney who was simultaneously involved in Epperson’s case before the state filed its intent to seek the death penalty.

    That same firm, Burgess said, had contact about possible legal representation with another jailhouse informant whom the state said is expected to testify against Epperson, although that informant has since received different court-appointed counsel.

    As a result, she has asked for a hearing to determine the admissibility of their testimony and has filed a request to have the firm at issue recused from the first informant’s rape case.

    A call to the firm seeking comment was not returned by press time Thursday.

    In not making an immediate decision, Drummond said he wanted to review legal authority before he decides whether he wants the attorneys to present arguments in court during an already-set April 12 hearing or if he will rule on the matter another way. He said the situation was “sort of a novel” issue, especially because both informants’ cases are also assigned to his courtroom for trial purposes.

    The Thursday motion from Assistant District Attorneys Kevin Gray and Kevin Keller states that one of the informants will say Epperson told him he has “gotten away with murder twice before” and will do so again, as well as describing how he entered Tennant’s apartment and attacked her.

    Gray said in court that the other informant told an attorney representing him in a federal case that he had information to share “about some homicides” that included Epperson’s case and at least two others.

    That man, during a subsequent Tulsa Police interview, also said Epperson confessed to killing Tennant and that he was not worried about his pending murder charge because he had beaten two previously.

    http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/court...d6b4e3b09.html
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    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Trial of man facing death penalty pushed back to late August

    Judge pushes start to August due to conflicts concerning jailhouse informant

    By Samantha Vicent
    Tulsa World

    A Tulsa County judge on Thursday officially pushed back the trial of a man facing the death penalty in connection with the March 2017 strangulation of a 19-year-old girl inside her apartment.

    Gregory Epperson, 42, had been scheduled to begin his trial May 14 in the death of Kelsey Tennant, but District Judge Doug Drummond announced during a Thursday motions hearing that it wouldn’t be feasible to begin next month due to outstanding pretrial issues. Drummond said the trial would instead start on Aug. 27 and set a hearing in May to determine the status of discovery, or evidence, exchange between both sides.

    Thursday’s hearing primarily addressed a conflict related to a jailhouse informant who had the same legal representation as Epperson at the time of the latter’s June preliminary hearing, which resulted in Drummond granting Epperson’s defense’s motion to have that firm recused from the informant’s current rape case.

    Epperson received different court-appointed counsel after the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office filed its intent to seek consideration of the death penalty, as his preliminary hearing legal team did not have significant experience with capital cases.

    Current defense attorney Beverly Atteberry revealed through questioning on Thursday that the informant’s court-appointed attorney, Ciera Freeman, had awareness on some level about her client providing information to authorities regarding Epperson before the informant — also assigned to Drummond’s courtroom — waived his right to a jury trial. Freeman, along with her law partner, were listed as attorneys of record in Epperson’s preliminary hearing, although at that point the informant hadn’t come forward.

    Assistant District Attorney Kevin Gray said in court last month that the informant in question notified an attorney in his federal proceeding that he had information “about some homicides” that included Epperson’s case.

    Gray said a later interview with Tulsa Police yielded statements from the man about how Epperson confessed to him that he killed Tennant but was not worried because he had beaten two murder investigations previously.

    The state has announced its intent to use information about a 2015 murder case against Epperson that was dismissed before trial in his punishment stage if he is found guilty of killing Tennant.

    Drummond, in deciding to grant the recusal request, said he determined the court should have been notified of the possibility of a conflict before the informant’s jury trial waiver was signed. He said it was “very problematic in my mind” to have Freeman or her partner sit next to the informant as he testified, and prosecutors announced they joined in the defense’s recusal motion. The informant is expected to receive a different court-appointed attorney.

    Freeman testified that she had concerns on the day of her client’s February court appearance because the limited information she received from a prosecutor gave her reason to believe there could be a safety issue if Epperson and the informant were brought over from the Tulsa County Jail together.

    Despite this, she said she did not believe with certainty that there was a conflict when the jury trial waiver was signed because she didn’t know the nature of what information was provided. However, she and her law partner later told Drummond they believe there is now a clear conflict if the informant testifies against Epperson in trial.

    http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/court...5eb21f806.html
    In the Shadow of Your Wings
    1 A Prayer of David. Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!

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    Trial of man facing death penalty after 19-year-old woman's slaying on track to start in December

    By Kyle Hinchey
    Tulsa World

    After multiple delays, the trial of a man facing the death penalty after allegedly strangling a 19-year-old woman last year is set to begin in December.

    Gregory Jerome Epperson, 42, is scheduled to stand trial for the slaying of Kelsey Tennant on Dec. 3, court records show. Epperson has remained booked in the Tulsa County jail on charges of first-degree murder and assault and battery with a deadly weapon since his arrest on March 20, 2017, the day the homicide occurred.

    The trial initially was scheduled to begin in May but was pushed to August by District Judge Doug Drummond due to outstanding pretrial issues. One issue centered on a jailhouse informant who had the same legal representation as Epperson at the time of the murder defendant's preliminary hearing earlier this year.

    Assistant District Attorney Kevin Gray said the conflict has been resolved, with the informant expected to receive a different court-appointed attorney.

    The trial was delayed again after the defense asked for a continuance in relation to a mitigation expert's report that still needs to be completed.

    During a hearing Wednesday morning, one of two jailhouse informants expected to be called by the state during Epperson's trial, told the judge this would be his first time to testify in a case. The second informant is expected to testify Aug. 23.

    Gray said the mandated hearings allow the state to demonstrate that it met its requirements for turning over information to the court about jailhouse informants. Often during the hearings, the lead detective and the informant will speak about whether the informant have been involved in other cases.

    Epperson's case is the first death penalty proceeding filed by the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office since 2012, when prosecutors asked for capital punishment consideration for the defendants in the 2012 Good Friday shootings.

    Investigators believe Epperson strangled Tennant in her apartment near 65th Street and Mingo Road after possibly ambushing the 2015 Broken Arrow High School graduate when she opened the door. Her boyfriend, Riley Allen, was attacked in the apartment after heading there to check on Tennant.

    Tennant was pronounced dead at the scene. Allen survived his injuries.

    Police found Epperson in a nearby residence after the woman who lived there called for help when he reportedly showed up with a weapon.

    One of the jailhouse informants is expected to testify that Epperson told him he has "gotten away with murder twice before" and will again. Epperson also allegedly described how he entered Tennant's apartment and carried out at the attack.

    The other informant said Epperson reportedly confessed to killing Tennant and wasn't worried about his pending murder charge because he had beaten two already.

    Epperson previously was charged with first-degree murder in the presumed death of a Tulsa man who was reported missing in 2008. The charge was dropped three days before the start of the trial because evidence was severely lacking, prosecutors said.

    He also was a suspect in a 2010 Tulsa County case in which a man's body was recovered from the area around Keystone Lake, but investigators could not find enough evidence to file charges against him.

    https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/cour...123faa99e.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Tulsa man pleads guilty to strangling teen to death

    KJRH News

    A man accused of strangling a 19-year-old girl to death has pleaded guilty to her murder, records show.

    Gregory Epperson on Wednesday pleaded guility to killing Kelsey Tennant in an apartment near 61st and Mingo in March 2017. Tennant was found strangled and unresponsive and later died at the hospital, investigators say.

    Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler's office filed documents earlier this year to put the death penalty on the table, along with life in prison and life without parole, in the event of a conviction.

    After Epperson entered his plea, he was sentenced by a judge to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    https://www.kjrh.com/news/local-news...-teen-to-death
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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