CRIME & COURT briefs
Crime and Court briefs: Saturday, May 31, 2008

A dozen people were arrested during a drug sweep in Comanche County earlier this week.

A licensed nurse was among the people facing drug charges. Kristi Natario, a licensed practical nurse, has been charged with obtaining a controlled and dangerous substance by fraud.

Others charged include Coy Alexander, Mitchell Gene Duncan, Damien Lamont Keith, Milton Daris Knight, Kendrick Lewis, Brandy Love, Mark S. Matthews, Lekesha Nicole Rollins, and Michael Antonio Williams.

Officers serving the search warrant found nearly five gallons of promethazine with codeine cough syrup, 3½ pounds of crack cocaine and a quarter-pound of marijuana.

Staff Writer Julie Bisbee

A Lawton man has been charged with first-degree arson after police say he poured gasoline on his brother and set him on fire.

Police say 50-year-old Charley Floyd doused his 53-year-old brother with gas on Wednesday then set him on fire after the two argued.

The brother's name wasn't released.

The Associated Press

A 26-year-old Agra man was arrested after police say they found him in possession of three guns and a police radio reported stolen from the Tryon Police Department.

Kevin Keith Herrman was arrested Thursday at a friend's home north of Agra, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

Staff Writer Johnny Johnson

Two women were charged Friday with first-degree murder in the April 27 slaying of a woman at an Oklahoma City park.

Vontina Diane Tyler, 25, and Tanisha Jones, 19, were arrested earlier this month after Oklahoma City police identified them as suspects in the shooting death of Shonda Hamilton at North Highland Park, NW 82 and Harvey, according to court papers.

Witnesses said Tyler and Jones argued with several other women April 27 at North Highland Park, NW 82 and Harvey, before an unknown man fired several gunshots, Detective Robbie Benavides wrote in an affidavit. Tyler got a handgun from Jones and fired several shots toward Hamilton, 18, who died from a gunshot wound to the head, the affidavit states.

Tyler and Jones remain jailed without bail.

An Oklahoma County jury is expected to hear evidence in February against a man accused of disemboweling a 75-year-old woman in 1989.

Roderick Earsel Webster was set Friday for a Feb. 9 trial on a capital murder charge filed in the March 22, 1989, death that puzzled police for nearly two decades.

Webster, 52, was arrested in December after Oklahoma City police matched him to a palm print found at the scene of Audrey Harris' slaying.

Webster could be sentenced to death if convicted. He remains jailed without bond.

Staff Writer Jay F. Marks

In the end, Lennie Dartez Mathis decided he wanted to continue being a father.

Mathis, 30, agreed Friday to spend the rest of his life in prison rather than face the death penalty in the 2004 murder of Retha Monique Ortiz.

Mathis was convicted late Thursday of first-degree murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and possession of a firearm, charges springing from a Nov. 8, 2004, argument with his ex-girlfriend about their son.

Mathis claimed he accidentally shot Ortiz, 21, after a struggle, but an Oklahoma County jury found him guilty of murder after about four hours of deliberation. Ortiz had been living with the ex-girlfriend.

Staff Writer Jay F. Marks

The state Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday set a July 22 execution date for a man convicted of killing an Oklahoma City man in 1996.

Kevin Young was convicted of killing Joseph Sutton, 56, at the Charles Steak House, 2307 N Lottie, on May 14, 1996.

His is the second execution date set in Oklahoma since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month that lethal injections are constitutional.

John Greiner, Capitol Bureau

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