David Harold Earls case: Evidence fell short in abuse

According to court records:

→The sexual acts took place between May and August 2008.

→On Sept. 25, the grandmother of the girl told investigators the girl grabbed her breast while sitting at the kitchen table for dinner. She questioned the girl, who said that Earls had sexually abused her at her mother’s house. The girl’s brother also said he’d witnessed Earls abusing his sister. The grandmother called the Pittsburg County sheriff’s office and then McAlester police.

→Earls was initially charged with one rape complaint, two forcible sodomy complaints and one complaint of lewd or indecent proposal or acts to a child under 16.

1992: Convicted in Pushmataha County for second-degree burglary. He was sentenced to five years in prison.

1996: Convicted of assault with a deadly weapon in Hughes County. There he stabbed a woman in the stomach with a pocket knife. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison but was released in 2003 for medical reasons.

AT A GLANCE

Judge Thomas Bartheld

• Bartheld, 51,

became an associate district judge in Pittsburg County in 1995. He won 61 percent of the vote.

→Weeks after being sworn in, Bartheld presided over the placement hearing of Ryan Luke, the toddler whose death has since paved the way for more stringent child abuse laws. Bartheld granted custody of Ryan to his grandfather, Don Luke, while his mother and her boyfriend were under investigation for child abuse. Ryan died from injuries suffered after his grandfather returned him to the boy’s mother.

→A 1995 case of Bartheld’s was overturned in 2009 by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Judges ruled that a death row inmate, Charles Taylor, did not get a fair trial because of errors made by Bartheld and attorneys in the case. The Denver-based appellate judges called Bartheld’s instructions to jurors "legally defective” and determined that the instruction had an injurious effect on the jurors’ verdict.

→In 2005, Gov. Brad Henry named Bartheld as the district judge in the 18th Judicial District that includes Pittsburg and McIntosh counties.

J.B. Miller

Miller, 49, worked in private practice as an attorney before being appointed as district attorney. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of Oklahoma in 1982 and received his law degree from Oklahoma City University in 1989.

2002: Appointed by Gov. Frank Keating to fill vacated District 18 district attorney seat. Lost in the general election to Democrat Chris Wilson, 63 percent to 37 percent.

2006: Wilson left for a position with the U.S attorney for the Eastern District of Oklahoma. Gov. Brad Henry appointed Miller district attorney. Miller filed as a Democrat for the general election. His rival, George Burnett, was found by the state Election Board to not be a qualified resident, leaving Miller unopposed.

2009: In May, Miller testified before a state grand jury over allegations he improperly subpoenaed records from the Internet site McAlester Watercooler. Miller declined comment on the investigation, but previously told The Oklahoman he thought posts made to the site were criminally libelous.