Oklahoma murder conviction reversed due to sexual relationship between judge, prosecutor #Oklahoma #murder #conviction #reversed #due #sexual #relationship #judge #prosecutor

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma appeals court on Thursday threw out a first-degree murder conviction because of a sexual relationship between the judge and a prosecutor in the case.

In a 3-2 decision, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ordered a new trial for defendant Robert Leon Hashagen III, who was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder in 2021. Hashagen’s attorneys later appealed after new evidence emerged of an undisclosed sexual relationship between the trial court judge, Timothy Henderson, and one of the prosecutors in the case.

The majority opinion found that “the undisclosed relationship violated Hashagen’s due process rights.”

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A state board in Oklahoma voted Wednesday to deny recommending clemency for a man convicted of stabbing a Tulsa woman to death with a butcher knife in 1995, clearing the way for his planned execution next month.

FILE - Cherokee Nation Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr., speaks during a House Rules Committee hearing at the Capitol in Washington, Nov. 16, 2022. The largest Native American tribe in the U.S., the Cherokee Nation, is set to elect a new leader to guide the tribe for the next four years. Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. is among four candidates seeking the tribe’s top position, similar to that of a state’s governor. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, file)

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Cherokee Nation’s Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. won reelection to another four-year term as leader of the nation’s most populous tribe, according to results certified Monday by the tribe’s Election Commission.

FILE - Florida State outfielder Kaley Mudge (6) warms up before an NCAA college softball game against Maris on Friday, May 19, 2023, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough, File)
ALABAMA (45-20)

National titles: 1 (2012).

FILE - This photo provided by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections shows death row inmate Richard Glossip on Feb. 19, 2021. The Supreme Court on Friday, May 5, 2023, blocked Oklahoma from executing Glossip after the state's attorney general agreed his life should be spared. (Oklahoma Department of Corrections via AP, File)

The Supreme Court has blocked Oklahoma from executing death row inmate Richard Glossip after the state’s attorney general agreed Glossip’s life should be spared.

Henderson resigned in March 2021 after three female attorneys came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against him.

Henderson was never charged and has described the sexual involvement with two of the women as consensual.

“My rulings were fair and supported by the evidence and facts presented by the attorneys,” Henderson said at an evidentiary hearing in November 2021.

Henderson presided over a number of high-profile criminal trials as a judge, including that of ex-Oklahoma City police officer Daniel Holtzclaw, who Henderson sentenced to life in prison in 2016 after he was convicted of raping and sexually victimizing women while on his beat in Oklahoma City.


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