Tulsa Attorney BlogCategory: Criminal Law

189 Articles:

• Is Possession of Drugs a Felony in Muscogee (Creek) Nation Tribal Court?

  By Staff, August 11th, 2020

  A lot of Northeast Oklahoma, including most of Tulsa County and all of many of the surrounding counties, is all part of the Muskogee Creek Tribal Reservation, which means that native Americans, whether they’re members of that tribe or any other tribe, are going to be subject to criminal filings against them for crimes that occur in that area. Because of that, we’re looking at the differences between state law and tribal law now that we’re about to see a lot more cases in tribal court, as we’re seeing a lot of cases thrown out of state court. One of the more interesting ones is possession of drug paraphernalia.

• Murder by Sleeping? One Reason Some Are Happy About McGirt Decision

  By Staff, August 10th, 2020

  Oklahoma has one of the highest incarceration rates in the nation. It was actually number one for women and number one for men for a period of time. Now I believe we’re down to number two in the nation for prison population. So there are a lot of reasons that go into that, but I’ve got an example of a case that gets you an idea on why some people are happy that the McGirt decision came out and divested the state courts with authority to charge certain Indians for crimes in Northeast, Oklahoma.

• U.S. Supreme Court’s Indian Country Ruling Sets Stage for Mass Expungement of Criminal Convictions

  By staff, July 13th, 2020

  Historic Decision Overturns State Jurisdiction The U.S. Supreme Court’s July 9 decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma set in motion legal controversies that state, tribal and federal authorities might not resolve for years or even decades to come.  Among the most immediate controversies that may emerge is whether tribal members convicted in Oklahoma courts of crimes […]

• Hey Tribal Members with Convictions: Supreme Court Opened the Door to Possible Conviction Referral

  By Staff, July 10th, 2020

  Muscogee Creek Nation reservation of 1833 was never disestablished through Oklahoma statehood. And what that means is that a huge area of Northeast Oklahoma that’s been operating like it’s the state of Oklahoma is actually part of the Creek Nation reservation. And I’ve got a map here to show where those boundaries are approximately. So we’re talking most of Tulsa County, including the city of Tulsa, except for a small portion on the north side, but also other counties as well. So we’ve got Creek County, Wagner part, a small part of Rogers County and Mayes County, Muskogee County, all of Okmulgee County, McIntosh, Okfuskee, and other areas of Oklahoma. Now, based on the United States Supreme Court decision, are actually reservation land to the Muscogee Creek Nation. And what that means is that the state of Oklahoma lacked jurisdiction to charge tribal members with crimes that were allegedly committed in that area. They lack that jurisdiction. Never should have charged them, even though they’ve been doing it for 100 years, and can’t do so now according to this decision.

• Wirth Law Attorney Represents Artist in #MeToo Allegations Against Tulsa Mayoral Candidate

  By Staff, June 24th, 2020

  Wirth Law Group represented a local artist who made allegations towards a Tulsa Mayoral candidate. Multiple television stations showed up to explain what happened. The woman is asking police to investigate this matter.

• Do You Qualify for Misdemeanor Expungement in Oklahoma? Find Out Here!

  By Staff, June 17th, 2020

  If you have any felonies on your record or if you have any pending cases, this is not going to be applicable to you. You want to look for a different video. So, there’s multiple grounds to get a misdemeanor expunged. Expungement law in Oklahoma is relatively simple. Most of it is all included within one statute.

• Is Your Oklahoma Felony Conviction Eligible for Expungement?

  By Staff, June 16th, 2020

  If you’ve got multiple convictions that are related to the same conduct at the same time, those may under the law count as one conviction. Talk to an attorney about that if you fall under those circumstances. If those cases we’re talking about are based on a deferred sentence, deferred sentence is not a conviction unless it’s accelerated to a conviction. If it’s a dismissed charge, you get charges filed against but they’re dismissed, not a conviction, doesn’t count here.

• Deferred Sentence Expungement in Oklahoma (991c). Are you Eligible?

  By Staff, June 15th, 2020

  ‘m Tulsa attorney James Wirth, and I’m about to explain the 991(c) expungement. That’s the deferred sentence expungement. When you go to court and a plea deal is worked out, there’s many different types of sentences that can occur. One is a deferred sentence. What happens when you enter into a deferred sentence is that although you plead guilty or no contest, the judge withholds a finding of guilt. Then passes the case to have sentencing at a later date. During that period of time in between, which is up to a maximum of seven years, you’re on probation. The court can pass that based on whatever the plea agreement is for one year, two years, 18 months, however long that is.

• State Question 780 & House Bill 1269 Expungements in Oklahoma. Who Qualifies?

  By Staff, June 12th, 2020

  A couple of years ago in Oklahoma, we had state question 780, and that, when it passed and became law, re-classified many crimes that were previously felonies as misdemeanors. But we still had a lot of people out there that were previously convicted of those crimes that have felony convictions. So it came later; House Bill 1269 allowed some relief to some of those people. So first off, let’s talk about 780 and what it did. So one of the biggest things it did is that it changed possession of CDs, that’s a controlled and dangerous substance, essentially illegal narcotics, it changed all of those that were felonies to misdemeanors.

• Expungement of Dismissed Felony Charges in Oklahoma. Who Qualifies?

  By Staff, June 11th, 2020

  If you’re charged with a felony, you go to trial and ultimately you’re found not guilty, at that point, that triggers the statute. You’re eligible to get it expunged, you can file a section 18 complete expungement, that expunges both the arrest record and the court case. Under Oklahoma law, once you have a section 18 expungement by the law, those events never occurred. So the next situation we’re talking about, is if it’s overturned on appeal. So if you’re convicted at trial on a felony, and then it goes up on appeal and then it’s reversed, and the conviction goes away at that point based on it being reversed and overturned, then you’re eligible under the statute to get a complete expungement. Next opportunity for that, if you’ve got a felony charges that were dismissed is under subsection three, and that deals with no … Well, I should say this is a little bit different. Charges are not filed under these circumstances. So this is if you’re arrested.