OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin asked a member of her legal staff to look into the manslaughter case of a former Tulsa reserve deputy as a favor for her sister-in-law, newly released emails reveal.
The governor’s office released 14 pages of emails this week showing Fallin’s discourse with sister-in-law Jane Vanfossen - a friend of the jailed officer Robert Bates’ daughter - and Jennifer Chance, her then-deputy general counsel, over the case, the Tulsa World (https://bit.ly/2occbP2 ) reported.
The emails indicate Vanfossen had forwarded a plea of concern from Bate’s daughter to Fallin.
“As a tax paying, law abiding citizens (sic) we have been thoroughly disappointed in the bias, influenced by a media with no ethical code, that appears in our court system,” Bates’ daughter Leslie McCrary wrote. “I won’t elaborate on the specifics but would ask for you to please review the statute that is keeping our Dad in jail …”
An email from the governor noted Chance had researched the case and would contact Bates’ family.
Chance later emailed Bates’ daughter and said the governor couldn’t intervene in the case, but advised that her father could have recourse regarding medical care and treatment under federal laws.
In March, a Tulsa media report alleged Chance resigned as deputy general counsel after Fallin learned that Chance had recommended her husband, attorney Derek Chance, to the Bates family.
Chance’s March 8 resignation letter states she left her post “to pursue other opportunities.”
But the emails indicate Fallin was aware Derek Chance would represent Bates after receiving an email of gratitude in September 2016.
“We hired Derek in June of 2016 and as of today this is where we are. Nowhere. UGH! Thank you again,” McCrary wrote.
Spokesman Michael McNutt told the Tulsa World in a response to a question of Fallin’s interest in the case that the governor “treated this matter the same as similar requests that she receives by referring it to her general counsel’s office.”
Bates was found guilty of second-degree manslaughter for the fatal shooting of Eric Harris in April 2015. Bates alleged he mistook his revolver for his Taser when Harris had tried to run away from a Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office undercover gun buy.
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Information from: Tulsa World, https://www.tulsaworld.com
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