Records laws help bring stories to light in Oklahoma

Open records are an integral part of many of the stories that run every day in The Oklahoman. They sometimes tell a key part of a story that would otherwise go untold.

Sunshine Week, a national effort to promote open government, continues through Saturday. As part of that effort, here are a few of the stories from the past year reporters at The Oklahoman could not have brought to the public without laws requiring government records and other information be made public.

→Jerome Ersland case: When two teens tried to rob Reliable Discount Pharmacy in south Oklahoma City in May, pharmacist Jerome Ersland took the defense of the store into his own hands.

Ersland fired on the teens, one of whom was armed. Police said Jevontai Ingram, who was holding a gun, fled the store when Ersland began firing. Ingram was then 14. The other robber, Antwun "Speedy” Parker, 16, was hit in the head.

Prosecutors said Ersland chased Ingram before coming back and firing five more shots into the stomach of the incapacitated and unarmed Parker. Ersland is charged with murder in the case.

Military records obtained by The Oklahoman contradicted Ersland’s claims about his past military service, and court records called into question his mental stability ahead of the trial. Many facts of the case would still be unknown if not for open records.

→Power struggle at Feed The Children: When the board of directors of local charity Feed The Children fired the group’s president, Larry Jones, both sides sued each other.

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