Judge to decide whether Adair County case sentencing will stand

STILWELL — An Adair County judge plans to decide in a few weeks whether deferred sentences that were promised in a second-degree murder case and one involving first-degree manslaughter should be granted.

Former District Attorney Richard Gray testified during a hearing on Tuesday that the terms reached in plea agreements before he left office should stand because that's what he promised James Leonard Allen Thomas, Eric Higgins and Erin Hammer.

Thomas and Higgins are charged with second-degree murder in the October 2003 fatal shooting of James Hawley, 19. Hammer is charged with first-degree manslaughter for the 2004 slaying of his cousin, Jason Hammer.

Gray's successor, Jerry Moore, said in court filings that a deferred sentence to second-degree murder is "outrageous, shocking and wholly without the underpinnings of justice."

Gray told District Judge Jeff Payton that he knew the victims' families weren't happy with his decision, but he believes it was the best thing to do because the evidence would make the cases difficult to try.

Donn Baker and Rex Earl Starr, attorneys for the three defendants, argued their clients deserved deferred sentences they were promised.

Gray is the former prosecutor for District 27, which, besides Adair, serves Cherokee, Sequoyah and Wagoner counties.

A multicounty grand jury indicted him in 2006 on an embezzlement charge alleging that he took about $8,800 in seized drug funds in 2003. He remains free on bond as he awaits a trial date.

The state Attorney General's office, which is prosecutor Gray, has said it won't oppose efforts by his attorneys to move the case out of his former district to Okmulgee.

Payton said he wants to review the deferred sentence cases and will rule on them soon.