Published: March 21, 2008 09:45 am            

Attorney seeks dismissal of charges

CLAREMORE, Okla. — The attorney of a former Rogers State University student jailed in connection with alleged threats of violence filed a motion Wednesday to dismiss charges against his client on the grounds they “violated his First Amendment rights”

On behalf of Tywone Dion Parks, 24, Tulsa attorney Jack Zanerhaft filed a motion in Rogers County District Court to “quash and dismiss” all charges against Parks.

Zanerhaft’s filing further cited the language of the statute used by the state in its attempt to prosecute Parks “violates his First Amendment right guaranteeing free speech” as well as Parks’ rights as protected by the Fifth and 14th Amendments.

The Fifth Amendment states a person shall not be “compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.”

The 14th Amendment addresses a citizen’s right to due process and equal protection.

Parks was arrested on Feb. 22, following a psychological evaluation at Grand Lake Mental Health Center. At the time, he was booked into Rogers County Jail on charges of “planning

to perform act of death,” jail records indicate.

At his Feb. 28 bond hearing, details surrounding his arrest were given by investigators, including reports he allegedly admitted to severing a dog’s head and leaving it on the doorstep of a friend, and that he may have had a “history of “torturing animals.”

In the arrest warrant narrative which led to Parks’ arrest, Claremore police reported observing statements of intended violence, allegedly written by Parks in his home, including writings which Parks allegedly described as his “manifesto.”

Charges currently against Parks include the felony charge of “threatening/attempt/conspiring to perform acts of violence” and “outraging public decency,” a misdemeanor, which could carry combined sentences of up to 10 1/2 years.

At Wednesday’s “non-issue hearing,” Zanerhaft entered his “quash” motion before Special Judge L. Joe Smith, requesting all charges against Parks be dismissed, as the statute being used to prosecute him is “unconstitutional on its face, void for vagueness,” and “can be unfairly and unequally applied.”

Smith took Zanerhaft’s motion under advisement and set Parks’ “issue” preliminary hearing for 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 29.

A $750,000 bond had been ordered in the case.



Tom Fink writes for the Claremore (Okla.) Progress.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.