In pursuit of justice, winter 2011, v.4 no.1

              INSIDE:
Meet the
Prosecutor
2
Major Case
Convictions
3
Earning a
Second Chance
4
Collaborative
Justice
5
Justice for
Victims
7
Message From DA
Tim Harris
8
W I N T E R 2 0 1 1
􀁈􄠠
But if anyone causes
one of these little
ones who trusts in
me to lose faith, it
would be better for
that person to be
thrown into the sea
with a large
millstone tied
around the neck.
─ Bible
Matthew18:6
􀁈􄠠
T I M H A R R I S
T U L S A C O U N T Y
D I S T R I C T
A T T O R N E Y
Jury Sentences Fleming to 30 Years in Prison
K aitlyn Finnegan had a room
full of soccer trophies, a
younger brother and a
German Shepherd she adored, and a
voice pretty enough to sing the
national anthem at Tulsa Oiler
hockey games. Her senior year at
Bishop Kelly High School would be
over in a month. No one could
imagine her life would end even
sooner.
On April 4, 2009, she was out with
friends and supposed to come home
early that evening. But her mother
said she had a strange feeling about
4 o’clock that day, that she needed
to find Kaitlyn. The mother called
some of her daughter’s friends, but
was unable to locate her.
Three hours later, there was a
knock at the door. Theo Fleming, a
Jenks High School student Kaitlyn
had met about a month before, said
Kaitlyn was hit in a drive-by shoot-ing
while walking a dog with friends.
The friends did not call police, but
drove her to the hospital instead.
was “getting his life together.”
Their shy, sensitive daughter was a
“fixer,” her mother said, often
bringing friends in turmoil and
abandoned animals into their home
for safe haven. But the compas-sionate
girl miscalculated the dan-ger
of this rescue mission.
Fleming then called his mother,
who picked him up and drove him
to tell the Finnegans what hap-pened
– or what he said hap-pened
to their daughter.
The family rushed to the hospital,
a thousand questions racing
through their minds. They were
too late to say goodbye. At 7:44
p.m., 18-year-old Kaitlyn was
pronounced dead of a gunshot
wound to the chest.
After a trial in which one witness
shouted “Love you, Theo!” at the
conclusion of his testimony, the
jury convicted Fleming of Second-
Degree Murder in December and
sentenced him to 30 years in
prison.
Jim and Jeannie Finnegan had
never met Fleming before he
brought them the horrible news
that their daughter had been
shot. They had recently heard
about him from Kaitlyn, who
described him as a friend who
In Pursuit of Justice
V O L U M E 4 , I S S U E 1
Kaitlyn Finnegan, 18, was
shot to death in April 2009
Year of the Child: 2011
T ulsa County District Attorney Tim Harris
has declared 2011 the Year of the Child.
Protection of children has always been a top
priority in the office, but prosecutors will increase
focus on crimes against children in 2011.
“The frequency and serious nature of
child abuse in our community is a
huge concern to us,” Harris said.
Child abuse damages our commu-nity's
most precious citizens and may
cause future problems for genera-tions.
It may be our highest calling to
protect these most vulnerable of
victims,” Harris said.
The District Attorney’s Task Force on Crimes
Against Children involves a multi-disciplinary team
that includes police and sheriff’s officers, child wel-fare
workers, medical and mental health profession-als
and prosecutors who work together to provide
less traumatic investigation of child abuse and develop
a coordinated strategy to both hold the perpetrator
accountable and help the child heal.
“Our goal is to reduce the number of children victim-ized
by aggressively prosecuting offenders, and work-ing
with allied professionals on behalf of
victims too small, scared or weak to
protect themselves. We will be a voice
for the voiceless,” Harris said.
DA Victim Advocates work closely with
child victims when they come to court
to give support, information and refer-rals
to help the child begin the process
of healing. The DA’s office has recently
developed a Special Dog Unit in which therapy dogs
and their handlers volunteer for court duty to help
children and families deal with the pain and emotional
trauma a victim suffers and calm anxiety associated
with testifying in court.
See KAITLYN Page 6