Published: July 06, 2009 09:57 am      

Attorney says DA pushed for more

McALESTER (AP) — The attorney for a man who accepted a one-year prison deal as part of plea agreement in a child rape case says prosecutors sought a harsher penalty in the case.

Defense attorney Tim Mills said District Attorney J.B. Miller tried to convince 64-year-old David Harold Earls to accept a plea agreement that would result in Earls spending more than one year in prison.

Earls pleaded no contest in May to first-degree rape and forcible sodomy for attacking a then 4-year-old McAlester girl. All but one year of a 20-year prison sentence was suspended.

“They had pushed for a longer sentence. And until the last few days before the trial, there were discussions between the DA’s office and myself for different lengths of time,” said Mills, who was assigned to Earls’ case. “I’m not going into the details of any negotiations between the DA’s office and myself. But I can tell you anything above and beyond what was settled for and what Mr. Earls pled to, Mr. Earls had rejected, and we would have gone to trial.”

Judge Thomas Bartheld accepted the plea agreement, which led to a firestorm that has included efforts by two state legislators to seek the judge’s removal and an investigation by state Attorney General Drew Edmondson.

“Our investigators are following up on information we have received, and our attorneys are reviewing all legal authorities,” said Edmondson spokesman Charlie Price. “It is too early to predict where this inquiry will lead us.”

Mills said the plea bargain was fair based on the evidence, testimony and the strength of the district attorney’s case.

“The reality was we could have taken this thing to trial, and if the DA’s case falls apart because of lack of testimony and corroborating evidence, then this guy walks. We get an acquittal, and he walks,” Mills said.

District attorney Miller said recently, “I much prefer to get a sex offender convicted rather than see a sex offender walk off scot-free.”