Posted on 08/18/2016 2:16:06 PM PDT by nickcarraway
On Wednesday, a judge refused to accept a guilty plea from a man accused of beheading a co-worker in 2014.
Judge Lori Walkley listened to testimony all day last Friday, as psychologists on both sides argued over Alton Nolen's mental competency.
Wednesday, Walkley announced her decision not to accept Nolen's guilty plea.
She worried accepting it would not survive an appeal.
"I've given it a great deal of thought and a great deal of prayer," Walkley told the courtroom Wednesday. "Because, I thought I could use divine intervention."
She said she did not want the victims and their families to go through multiple trials.
Walkley wants Nolen to undergo a competency exam at a state facility in Vinita so the case can move forward, promising things will proceed as quickly as possible.
"They're entitled to justice," Walkley said of the victims and their families. "While it may not be swift, it will be sure."
Prosecutors said they were disappointed in the judge's decision, noting she initially ruled Nolen was competent to stand trial.
"She had a gut feeling that he was competent, but basically she wanted to make sure and resolve all doubts," said Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn. "She's going to make sure she has another set of eyes look at it and take that in consideration."
Nolen is charged with murder and five other felony counts, after allegedly killing Colleen Hufford in September 2014.
Police said Nolen returned to Vaughan Food Services shortly after he was fired and attacked with a butcher’s knife.
Nolen wanted to plead guilty in Cleveland County Court in February, but the judge pushed things off until May 20 to make sure he fully understood the consequences of his plea.
Walkley pushed things off again until last Friday, when psychologists and lawyers argued Nolen's mental state.
Nolen has refused to cooperate with his attorneys, who said he has lumped them into a sort of legal conspiracy with the judge.
The defense tried to frame its client as mentally incompetent, while prosecutors called Nolen difficult to deal with but competent.
"We firmly believe he's been competent all along," he said. "I see no reason why, if he comes back competent, which I assume that he will, that the judge would accept his guilty plea, and we could go on with the sentencing."
Garvin Isaacs, a defense attorney and president of the Oklahoma Bar Association, believes the judge made the correct decision.
"She did the right thing, and that's what a judge is supposed to do," he said. "Under our law, everyone is entitled to a fair and impartial judicial system, a fair and impartial judge and a fair and impartial jury. And, that's what Judge Walkley is doing, and we need to admire her for upholding her oath of office."
Isaacs said it is "really unusual" for a judge to reject a guilty plea but, in this case, a re-examination is worth it.
"If the judge thinks there needs to be an evaluation, justice requires it be done," he said. "In our country, people who are mentally incompetent who do not understand right from wrong are not criminally culpable. We need to lock them up in a mental hospital to protect the public."
There is no timetable for Nolen's next competency evaluation.
Once a doctor makes a ruling, Walkley could accept Nolen's plea, proceed to a trial or send Nolen to stay in a state medical facility.
I agree. Also, if the judge accepts the guilty plea, and he later claims coercion it’s back to square one. He certainly can’t claim coercion on a not-guilty. The judge seems to be buying insurance on the eventual verdict by outmaneuvering his counsel.
“”They’re entitled to justice,” Walkley said of the victims and their families””
Victims?? Who are the others?
Actually, I see her point. If she accepts the guilty plea and the perp is later found to be mentally incompetent, his conviction gets overturned, and he is back out on the streets. Better to be safe than sorry.
The Powers-That-Be want Nolen found insane. If he pleads guilty and is sentence, then it makes Islam look a little less “peaceful”
Seriously, what makes you think they took his voting rights away?
Turn the bastard loose and let him kill some else. Sooner or later someone will put a bullet in his sorry ass. The Courts are all for the criminal today. No one gives a damn about the innocent victim.
They should have done that the first time.
She did the right thing.
Put the MF before a jury of his peers so they, citizens of Oklahoma, can sentence his butt to death after a fair trial.
She wants to dot every I and cross every T, in order to reduce any grounds for endless appeals.
He will be convicted.
Perhaps she was referring to the witnesses of the crime.
“”Perhaps she was referring to the witnesses of the crime.””
Perhaps but I would hope a judge would be more capable of expressing that sentiment instead of calling witnesses “victims”....Who the heck knows today what anyone means about anything? We’d be better off not even questioning the crazy things we see and hear. I know I would.
She should be forced to host the poor dear in her home while he waits for his assessment. Same with parole boards. The heck with halfway houses. If parole board members vote to release them surely the released criminal would pose no threat. Better to have the judges and parole board members test that theory before the public is endangered.
And by a woman, so he doesn’t get his virgins.
Thanks. I was hoping that someone with legal knowledge would weigh in.
Yes. Dot every “I” and cross every “T”.
The deity of the appellate court....
No sense having a trial that had a high certainty of being overturned....
Proceed carefully to ensure not only a fair trial, but one that is appeal proof...
Sure hope the Judge was right and he gets his...for murder and NOT "workplace violence."
This seems like a sharp judge. It is also better to do this on the front end rather than on a remand from an appellate court.
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