Why a cannibalism case led to an investigation of Oklahoma's parole board

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Why a cannibalism case led to an investigation of Oklahoma's parole board

Sat, 03/06/2021 - 13:23
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State agents have begun an investigation into the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board and whether any wrongdoing there resulted in the release of two inmates from prison by mistake.

Gov. Kevin Stitt requested the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation examine the issue after one inmate, Lawrence Paul Anderson, was accused of fatally stabbing three people in Chickasha on Feb. 9 after getting out of prison early.

Anderson, 42, has confessed, saying he cut out one victim's heart to eat, according to court affidavits. He was released in January after the governor commuted his sentence for drug dealing and other crimes to nine years.

The governor signed the commutation after the Pardon and Parole Board recommended it by a 3-1 vote last year.

Records released to The Oklahoman on Tuesday, however, show that the Pardon and Parole Board initially rejected Anderson's commutation request 3-2 in July 2019. A denial at the so-called first stage is meant to end further consideration.

How Anderson's request came up again anyway in January 2020 is the focus of the investigation.

The findings of the investigation could exacerbate the already bitter feud between advocates pushing for criminal justice reform to reduce Oklahoma's high incarceration rates and prosecutors who contend the efforts have gone too far and endanger the public.

"It is time that we do better," Grady County District Attorney Jason Hicks said last week at a news conference after charging Anderson. "We don't want these people on our street."

Stitt on Thursday asked the OSBI to look into "all facts and circumstances" surrounding the two inmates' applications "including any actions taken or proceedings conducted by employees or members of the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board."

Stitt told the OSBI in a letter that "information has been presented to me ... which raises concerns that violations of state law and/or violations of the rules of the Pardon and Parole Board may have been committed affecting the recommendations of the Board related to the two inmates."

The governor wrote the information came from Tom Bates, a former assistant attorney general who took over as executive director of the Pardon and Parole Board last September.

"As your investigation proceeds, if you believe these concerns to be justified and may extend to cases beyond those of the two inmates ... please advise me .... so that I may expand the scope of your investigation," Stitt wrote OSBI Director Ricky Adams.

Anderson was charged last week with three counts of first-degree murder, one count of assault and battery with a deadly weapon, and one count of maiming.

He is accused in the charge of killing his uncle, Leon Pye, 67, and attacking his aunt, Delsie Pye, at their home in Chickasha. He also is accused of killing their granddaughter, Kaeos Yates, 4, and a woman who lived across the street. He was arrested at the Pye home after police responded to a 911 call for help.

He confessed to first killing the neighbor, Andrea Lynn Blankenship, 41, after breaking into her home, according to the OSBI.

He said he took the heart back to the Pye home to cook with potatoes "to feed to his family to release the demons," an OSBI agent wrote in a search warrant request.

"Anderson ... cooked the heart at the Pye home and tried to make Delsie and Leon Pye eat the heart before he attacked them," another OSBI agent wrote in separate search warrant request.

Anderson was sentenced in 2017 to serve 20 years behind bars for probation violations on his drug dealing case and for the new crimes. He would still be in prison if his sentence had not been commuted, records show.

Hicks declined to comment Tuesday because a judge imposed a gag order in the triple murder case. Bates also did not comment but directed the Pardon and Parole Board's general counsel to provide records to The Oklahoman as soon as possible.

The other inmate, Jonathan Perez, 35, also had his sentence commuted even though the Pardon and Parole Board had denied his application, records show.

Perez was sentenced in 2017 to serve 10 more years in prison for probation violations in a forged instrument case in Greer County District Court. Those violations included two new crimes in Oklahoma County: burglary and domestic abuse.

The Pardon and Parole Board voted down the application 3-2 in October 2019, records show. Stitt, however, commuted the sentence on Dec. 10, 2019, to time served after being told the Pardon and Parole Board had recommended it.

Stitt declined comment Tuesday.

"It would be inappropriate to comment further until the investigation ordered by the governor is complete," said Charlie Hannema, his chief of communications.