By John Dobberstein, Editor
A Wagoner County citizens group seeking a grand jury to investigate corruption allegations against the sheriff and district attorney have responded to a court motion by the two officials asking a judge to quash the effort.
Attorneys for Wagoner County Sheriff Chris Elliott and District Attorney Jack Thorp argued in their court motion that Wagoner County Citizens Against Corruption didn’t have the proper legal standing to request a grand jury proceeding due to its status as an organization.
“We disagree with this motion,” WCCAC said in a statement. “We have simply followed the provisions reserved to the people as provided in the Oklahoma Constitution to have these types of matters investigated through a citizen’s grand jury.
“We believe that this motion lacks a legal basis and will be denied. We therefore continue to press for investigation of what we believe appears to be cases of abuse and corruption.”
WCCAC is going door to door and hosting petition signature campaigns at various locations throughout the county in hopes of collecting 4,300 signatures needed to request a grand jury be empaneled. The deadline for gathering the required signatures is June 13.
On Saturday, a Prayer and Remembrance event will be held at 10:30 a.m. at the Wagoner County Courthouse, where WCCAC supporters will be “praying for justice” and providing public support for the families of Angela Liggans and Jeffrey Krueger, two people who in separate cases died while in custody of the Wagoner County Sheriff’s Department.
The 14-page petition from Wagoner County Citizens Against Corruption also requests a grand jury investigate “an assault and battery committed by the Elliott “against a Wagoner County jail inmate, and the failure of Thorp to 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.
Elliott and Kemp have both vehemently denied any allegations of misconduct.
Both the Liggans and Krueger cases spawned civil lawsuits against the sheriff’s department and the county. A sales tax increase had to be approved by voters this spring to pay a $13.5 million settlement in the Liggans lawsuit, which angered a large number of Wagoner County residents. The Krueger case is still pending.
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