By John Dobberstein, Editor
A district judge has quashed a grand jury petition targeting Wagoner County Sheriff Chris Elliott and District Attorney Jack Thorp, ruling the organization who filed the request is short of the required signatures to move forward.
Wagoner County Citizens Against Corruption gathered 3,730 certified signatures out of about 4,100 total collected, but Pittsburgh County District Judge Michael Hogan ruled WCCAC was short by 570 signatures due to them needing 16% of the 26,870 votes cast in the last gubernatorial election in Wagoner County.
The group filed a petition April 24 requesting a grand jury be assembled to investigate allegedly “criminal” acts by the Wagoner County Sheriff’s Department in the deaths of county jail inmate Angela Liggans and motorist Jeffrey Krueger.
The 14-page petition also requested an investigation of “an assault and battery committed by Elliott against a Wagoner County jail inmate,” and the decision by Thorp to not prosecute the incident. WCCAC also requested an investigation into “the attempted concealment of evidence” by Elliott of a Wagoner County Commission investigation into the county’s 911 director.
Both Thorp and Elliott vehemently denied any wrongdoing from the outset. In a statement Tuesday, Thorp said justice prevailed and proved, “the rules and the law still matter. The individuals leading the charge on this petition spread lies, disinformation and deceit at a win-at-all-cost mentality. The warped logic behind their claims are perverse, unintelligible and for some reason almost a decade after the fact.
“Luckily for me and every other Oklahoman, this is not how the law works and it is not how our system of government works,” he added. “If this can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. Luckily, I am not afraid and I will not back down. I will always do what is right to uphold the rule of law and protect Oklahomans. I thank all of my supporters and those who stood by me during this time and I am glad I can get back to focusing on the important work of District 27.”
Elliott did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
WCCAC also did not comment publicly on the decision, but on June 19, after the drive was finished, thanked those who signed the petition and stated there was a Constitutional basis for its petition drive due to free speech and the right for citizens to petition the government to redress grievances.
“A plain reading of our petition reveals that we have recited facts established in legal proceedings by court testimony regarding the deaths of both Angela Liggans and Jeffrey Krueger. The rights of citizens to free speech must be respected,” WCCAC said.
Lawyers for WCCAC argued that recently passed Senate Bill 1027 changed some of the threshold requirements for petitions and that only 11.5% of the vote total — or 3,090 signatures — were needed. Thorp argued the bill was passed after the petition was filed and would not apply to this case.
Hogan’s order, handed down Tuesday, said the newly enacted law states it applies to initiative petitions, and he questioned if the grand jury petition was an initiative petition or a referendum petition.
Hogan said the court believed it wasn’t an initiative or a referendum petition, but the Oklahoma Constitution refers specifically to initiative petitions. Therefore, by analogy, the bill may apply if it is procedural and not substantive.
“The court finds Senate Bill 1027 affects the remedy only and not the right and can therefore be applied retroactively,” Hogan wrote, noting the next issue was whether the bill altered the required number of signatures to summon a grand jury. It appears, he said, the sole method for determining the required number of signatures is in the State Constitution and the bill was not applicable.
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