Tulsa Police Corruption

Another Prisoner Released As Part Of Tulsa Police Corruption Investigation
Posted: Jun 22, 2010 2:45 PM CDT
Updated: Jun 23, 2010 12:11 PM CDT

DeMarco Williams was behind bars for six years, facing two life sentences.
By Lori Fullbright, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- A fourth person has been released from federal prison as part of a corruption investigation into Tulsa's narcotics division. Eleven people in total have either been released from prison or had their cases overturned during the course of this investigation.

A federal agent and a Tulsa police officer have already pled guilty, and more indictments are expected.

6/16/2010 Related Story: Retired Tulsa Police Officer Pleads Guilty To Stealing Money

DeMarco Williams has been a free man for nearly two months and while he's happy to be out, he doesn't have his own place to live, can't get a job, and must start over from scratch. That's because he lost everything while he was behind bars for six years, facing two life sentences.

Williams, 35, is bunking on his cousin's couch while he tries to get back on his feet. The day he was released from prison, he had nothing, no driver's license, no car, no home, not even clothes.

Even though his cocaine conviction was wiped away and he was set free, good luck explaining that during a job interview.

"When you go find a job, they ask about pervious job history," Williams said. "I've been one for six years. You get into it and start talking about police corruption and it's too complicated for them, just move to the next person."

DeMarco was first convicted in 2005 of selling drugs and got two life sentences with no parole. On appeal, that conviction was set aside for lack of a speedy trial. He went on trial again in 2008 and again, got two life terms. He kept telling everyone the police were lying, but no one believed him except his lawyer and eventually, Jane Duke, the special prosecutor from Arkansas assigned to investigate the police corruption.

DeMarco Williams, wrongly convicted: "Even people in prison didn't believe it, come on man, everybody's saying that."

Lori Fullbright, The News On 6: "Like that story is original."

DeMarco Williams, wrongly convicted: "Right, right, right, right."

Despite that, he says he tried to stay strong, hoping the truth would finally come out. He believes the officers who broke the law should go to prison and the sooner, the better. He knows he has a long road ahead of him and eventually believes he'll have to move from his hometown, to truly feel safe and start over.

I just want to do the right thing," he said. "Everything I do, I want it to be the right thing. I don't want to do any more trouble or come in contact with police, period or whatever. I'm just taking it day by day right now."

DeMarco plans to file a lawsuit against Tulsa and its police department. He says they can't give him back the six years he spent in a penitentiary in Texas, but believes they should pay him some restitution for ruining his life.

Eleven people have either been released from prison or had their cases overturned during the course of this investigation that's looking into allegations of stolen drugs and money, falsified search warrants, lying or nonexistent informants and lying on the witness stand.

They need to throw the book at these jerks. The fact remains that the vast majority of Police Officers across the US are honorable and under appreciated public servants. All the more reason to put these criminals next to other criminals where they belong. They give a black eye to the other 99.9% of honest Police Officers who don't deserve it. Then to add insult to injury some folks try to use incidents like this as a broad brush to paint all Police Officers in the same light. Of couse I know you wouldn't do that.......

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." - John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, first Baron Acton (1834–1902)

That's why we need checks and balances from the public. We need transparency and oversight. Or we devolve into a third world police state. We have neither transparency or oversight within the law enforcement community. They resist transparency at every turn. How's that for a broad brush?

What is a shame is the pathetic compensation that these people get. If our government can spent billions bailing out poorly managed companies, these people who wrongly had many years of life taken away should be highly compensated. This man should not be trying hard to get a job because he should have enough money to not need to work for years.

Seems to me instead of having "internal affairs" that look at cops there should be an outside agency that does it like the state bar, medical board, insurance commision etc.

Why don't you put your Timothy McVeigh conspiracy theories on hold for a few minutes and educate yourself. The OKC Police Department has oversight redundency built in throughout.

I played in a band with two OKC Cops for 10 years. One is a homicide detective and the other transferred from being a street cop to working with the Police Athletic League teaching sports and mentoring the kids of convicts. We played numerous OKC Police events and I got to know a bunch of OKC officers. Chief Marion Berry was particulary fond of our band. I also lived across the street from an OKC Cop for 10 years which was a great comfort to the safety of my family.

They are honorable public servants and do not deserve your paranoid delusions of their supposed abuse of power. It's just like any other facet of life. The vast majority of managers, bosses and CEO's are ethical good people but because of a few highly publicized bad ones some would suggest "all" are bad. It's the same with your authority issues with the police. Just keep on biting the hand that protects you.

Like I said, I know a lot of them pretty well and I know from conversations that they are aware there are people like you that they have to protect just the same as they protect the people that do appreciate them. They don't even resent those people as much as they pity them for their ignorance.

You act as if there are no contrary conditions to transparency in law enforcement. You also act too strenuous against my statement which most rational people would wholeheartedly embrace as good public policy. Also, transparency must be EXTERNAL in order to be of any effect. Internal controls are not sufficient.

The Mayor, the City Council, the OSBI and the District Attorney's office are all external. We have things called "laws" and law enforcement people are not exempt from them.

What happens when the external aspect of transparency is corrupt? Do you think the vast majority of executives in the banking industry are more corrupt than Barney Frank and Chris Dodd? Talk about the inmates running the asylum......Being external does not equal immunity to corruption.

The bottom line is that your contention that Police Departments across the US are all over-reaching and constitute a "Police State" is paranoid and inaccurate. There are corrupt policemen just like there are corrupt people in any walk of life. They are the "exception" and not the rule.

While technically true that the Mayor, Council, OSBI and DA's office are external, that's really not a good example of transparency. The Mayor and Council often recess into executive session to discuss these kinds of issues. The OSBI is often more interested in not upsetting their buddies in law enforcement and I know for a fact that many things happen in the justice system that get a "once over" by the OSBI. That's precisely why it took the DOJ to slap sanctions on the Oklahoma County Detention Center in order to force them to deal with issues that the OSBI turned a willing blind eye to. And DA's often are VERY AFRAID to challenge police actions because police FOP's play a very large role in endorsing DA candidates. They really can't afford to stir up the police union or they'll get the outs. And IF you aren't really aware of these facts, consider yourself now informed. None of the items you cite as "transparency" aren't anything of the kind.

Straw man argument.

Well, the way TPD is looking recently, the "honest" group is somewhat less than your 99.9% figure.........

Dude, you are absolutely the Ray Bolger of Straw Men.......

MP, my brother was a police officer. I rode in his patrol car with him on several occasions as he drove the streets of Stillwater, Okla. There are good men in blue protecting you and me out there.

Why don't you just get off your high horse and their backs for awhile?

Because no one, brother or not, deserves to be free of accountability in their work. Your brother chose to serve as a police officer. I will accept your word that he is an honorable person. But not all are. As evidenced by the events in Tulsa today and the Joyce Gilchrist events in Oklahoma City that happened a few years ago.

Some of my good friends are police officers. So it's not about bashing all police officers as you attempt to assert. It's about punishing and bringing swift justice to those that are corrupt.

Surely you would agree with that right? If not, then I guess we operate with totally different expectations of law enforcement officers.

It isn't about the individuals as it is the current system that needs changed. It is too tempting for some of them to go bad, especially when a culture encourages it and promotes it by covering each others backs in an internal review system. Then there is the fact that crime rates really aren't going down which means the status quo is either acceptable, or manufactoring of criminals is required to keep jobs.

Show me how a man is measured and rewarded, and I will show you how he will perform. The current system of measuring and rewarding police officers, and their performance of reducing crime is not working or we would have near 0% dirty cops and a crime rate of 0.0001%.

The crime rate is going up because of the use of drugs. I won't ask you, 926, if you have contributed in any way to the increase in crime.

Is the use of drugs a moral issue or a legal issue? As long as it is both I see no end in sight in the increase in crime and an increase in the incarceration of our citizens.

Police are really not the problem. It's those of us that have tried to legalize morality that cannot be legalized.

I know this is a little off the subject, but why don't we legalize and tax the use of marijuana for say 5 years and see if arrests on the streets slow down.

Maybe that way the cops on the street can give more time to ferreting out the terrorists that are walking our streets today.

Marijuana should have never been illegal. It should have been regulated and controlled like alcohol. In fact, I'll go one step further, all drugs should be decriminalized and people should suffer the consequences of their choices. We can't even keep drugs outside of prisons, so to think that they can be kept out of a free society is folly.

People have a right to their bodies. If they want to destroy themselves with drugs, alcohol, food, etc.. SO BE IT...

It's the busy body nannystaters that create most of these problems. It's sad that we have to learn the consequences of prohibition over and over. John Stossel recently pointed out that we have a drug cartel but not a wine cartel. Why? Wine is legal. Simple.

And before you jump and say, "well let's just make murder legal." Let's be clear. Decriminalize all consensual human behavior that doesn't put other people in imminent harm. Murder would obviously not meet that standard.