Judicial Integrity Crisis On the Horizon: Countless Cases Tainted by Prosecutorial Malfeasance

SCOTUS Announces it will hear Glossip v. Oklahoma; What it means for Oklahoma's 20th Judicial District

Like a festering wound, the putrid stench of prosecutorial misconduct continues to permeate the air of Oklahoma’s, 20th Judicial District, now helmed by appointed District Attorney, Melissa Handke. This time though, the stench has reached our nation’s highest court, and the Justices agree… something STINKS!

News of SCOTUS’ announcement to hear Glossip v. Oklahoma [SCOTUS case # 22-7466] has made the national new syndicates, with coverage by Reuters, CBS News, The New York Times, USA Today, and even the French state-owned international news television network, France24. That’s right, even FRANCE is watching to see if Oklahoma can finally be made to operate our criminal justice system ethically.

For readers unfamiliar with Oklahoma’s persistent desire to murder an innocent man [who has overcome NINE execution attempts], Richard Glossip has received an outpouring of support from 62 Oklahoma legislators, including at least 45 death penalty supporting Republican lawmakers. Two independent investigations have since cast grave doubts on the reliability of Mr. Glossip’s conviction, so much so, that even our State’s highest law enforcement officer, Attorney General, Gentner Drummond has made the unprecedented move of admitting error by The State of Oklahoma and actively supports Glossip receiving a new trial.

Our Supreme Court Justices are now faced with the legal morass of ruling in this case, what will they do?

1. Endorse and sanction the execution of an innocent man, or

2. Acknowledge prosecutorial misconduct with the potential to overturn 40 or more years of convictions from unethical career prosecutors.

Why Should a Man on Death Row Matter to the People of Johnston County?

Simply put, if an unscrupulous prosecutor will knowingly put an innocent man on death row, what prevents her from falsely convicting your neighbor? Your son? Your daughter? Or anyone who disagrees with her star witness, the local Sheriff?

The power to part individuals from their freedom and liberties should only be wielded by a person of unwavering integrity and impeccable ethics. Instead, this county prosecutor favors unethical and authoritarian tactics over community well-being.

Fern Smith was in charge of Mr. Glossip’s initial conviction which was REVERSED AND REMANDED FOR A NEW TRIAL in 2001 and the opinion acknowledged:

“Evidence Supporting Prosecutorial Misconduct and Violations of Due Process Clauses of the Oklahoma and Federal Constitutions”¹

Despite the OCCA’s acknowledgement of prosecutorial misconduct claims, Fern Smith faced no disciplinary action and was left on the case for his retrial until that responsibility was shifted to Connie Smothermon in August 2004. By then, the damage was done, her actions had already tainted his new trial as well, when exculpatory evidence “never made it to the casefile”² and other evidence was destroyed, presumably at her direction³.

Fern L. Smith Circ. 2022 [Photo 1]; Fern L. Smith Circ. 1993 [Photo 2]; Smith was referred to as Bob Macy's Protégé per his biography [seen with Macy in Photo 3] Macy was known to run Oklahoma's "Death Squad" prior to retiring while embroiled in scandal for fabricating evidence, Nearly 1/3 of Macy's convictions would be overturned due to prosecutorial misconduct, and he would go down in history as our nation's 2nd most deadly prosecutor with an unknown body count of innocent men.

Johnston County’s current prosecutor’s misconduct has been well documented and exposed throughout investigations of the Glossip case calling the integrity of every criminal conviction Fern Smith ever prosecuted into question, since her inception circa 1981. Although many abound, the most brazen examples is an interview with an OKC Police detective implicating Smith in ordering evidence to be destroyed in 1999 [while she was the lead prosecutor on the Glossip case].

Excerpt Page 45 of Reed Smith’s Final Report published June 7, 2022.

Due to her cheating and “misrepresentations” [lying] exposed in documents filed with SCOTUS and the destruction of evidence exposed through the independent investigation conducted by the Reed Smith firm, we now know that she has been prosecuting Oklahomans in bad faith with an utter disregard for our Constitution, the rule of law, or her ethical obligations for more than forty years, seven of those years have been spent obtaining potentially wrongful convictions against some of our state’s most vulnerable citizenry.

Much of Johnston County’s population is marginalized due to socioeconomic disparities, and are more vulnerable to erroneous legal proceedings.

Over 20% of Johnston County’s community lives in poverty⁴. More than 18% of county residents under 65 lives with a disability⁵. The median household income is under $49,000/year⁶. The average hourly rate for a private attorney in Oklahoma is $230/per hour⁷. Police misconduct, bias, unequal access to legal resources, and prosecutorial misconduct disproportionately contribute to the wrongful conviction of innocent individuals from these groups, exacerbating inequalities within the community, leading to more poverty and less public safety.

Families may be shattered, livelihoods disrupted, and access to education or employment hindered. The people of Johnston County simply cannot afford to lodge an effective defense against its rouge prosecutor, nor to economically recover from a wrongful conviction.

Many defendants in Johnston County cannot afford private counsel.

The $40 application fee for a public defender can sometimes equate to more than 13% of a defendant’s monthly cash income⁸.

The public defender’s office is not only under funded, but ill-equipped to properly defend clients in the best of scenarios. The need to address the prosecutorial misconduct occurring in Johnston County is an impossibility for the one full-time public defender.

As for contracted public defenders, who are forced to balance their indigent case loads against their for-profit clients, one does not need an economics degree to see which client will receive more of the attorney’s time and resources.

The resources for adequate justice simply do not exist for the people of Johnston County and the repercussions extend beyond individual victims, affecting the broader community as a whole.

Reckless Departure from Ethical Standards

For those unfamiliar with the checks and balances in place necessary to ensure fair trials in our country, ethics rules demand special responsibilities of prosecutors when it comes to disclosing evidence and utilizing witnesses to ensure the sanctity and fairness of trials in our constitutional republic.

Such ethics rules are outlined in Oklahoma’s Rules for Professional Conduct [known as “RPC”s] which govern the ethical conduct of attorneys. One such rule that Fern Smith regularly ignores, is Rule 3.8 - Special Responsibilities of a Prosecutor⁹. This rule governs disclosure of exculpatory [favorable to defense] and potential impeachment evidence. SCOTUS’ Brady Progeny has ruled for nearly 50 years that these disclosures are a Constitutional DUTY of every prosecutor.

The District Attorney’s Responsibility

Responsibility to correct and resolve these issues of injustice and prosecutorial misconduct in Johnston County falls squarely on the shoulders of District 20 Attorney, Melissa Handke.

Terminating Fern Smith and implementing an independent conviction integrity unit immediately is necessary for Johnston County in order to prevent further damage to the community.

Conviction Integrity Units (CIUs) are specialized units within prosecutor's offices that focus on reviewing and investigating potential wrongful convictions. Their purpose is to ensure the integrity of the criminal justice system by identifying and rectifying cases where individuals did not receive fair trials.

Johnston County needs comprehensive reviews of cases Fern Smith prosecuted in order to identify and rectify other misconducts she likely engaged in. This often involves re-examining witness statements, forensic evidence, and the conduct of the original investigation and trial.

Furthermore, such a unit would be responsible for ensuring that all potentially exculpatory evidence withheld by the rogue prosecutor is disclosed to the defense during the review process. This commitment to transparency is necessary to correct miscarriages of justice and uphold the integrity of the judicial process.

By actively seeking to identify and correct wrongful convictions, Melissa Handke can begin to rebuild public trust in the legal system and promote the fair administration of justice.

Only one question remains…

Will Melissa Handke Do The Right Thing?

1. GLOSSIP v. STATE 2001 OK CR 21 29 P.3d 597 ¶ 2

2. See “page 83” [Pg. 90 in .pdf] of Reed Smith Final Report June 7, 2022. RE: the “Sinclair Tapes” and Fern Smith’s misrepresentations to the court.

3. See “page 45” [Pg. 52 in .pdf] of Reed Smith’s Final Report published June 7, 2022 RE: Interview with OKC Detective Hogue - “Do you find it concerning at all that an ADA told you to destroy a box of evidence when the case was still ongoing?”

4. Per www.census.gov Persons in poverty, percent 20.8% [2022].

5. Per www.census.gov With a disability, under age 65, percent 18.1% [2018-2022]

6. Per www.census.gov Median Household income $48,476 [2018-2022]

7. According to lawpay.com [2022]

8. The maximum amount an adult and two children can receive through TANF cash assistance in Oklahoma is $292 per month. Source: www.benefits.gov

9. Okla. Stat. tit. 5A , app 3-A R. 3.8