Lawyers for the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office and the activist group We the People Oklahoma argued in front of a state Supreme Court referee Tuesday. The Sheriff’s office asked the referee to overturn a lower court’s ruling allowing an investigation of possible corruption in the department.
At question is more than 6,600 signatures gathered by Tulsa County residents to convene a grand jury to investigate the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office. James McCann argued for the Sheriff’s department, saying the signature gathering process was “corrupted” and Tulsa County District Judge Rebecca Nightingale made a mistake in allowing the grand jury.
After the hearing, Marq Lewis from We the People Oklahoma was confident.
“This is something where we are exercising our rights and we’ve done it peacefully,” Lewis said. “We’ve gone out and gotten above and beyond the signatures required, and we’d just like to see the grand jury to convene.”
The petition process began after reserve deputy Robert Bates killed an unarmed suspect in April. Bates has pleaded not guilty to second-degree manslaughter.
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