In pursuit of justice, 06/2008, v.1 no.2

              WWW . D A . T U L S A C O U N T Y . O R G
V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 2 P A G E 1
Phillip A. Summers was given
two DEATH sentences by a jury
in the February 2004 shooting
deaths of Ples Vann Jr., 56 and
his wife, Shelly Vann, 45 in
their Tulsa home.
Jesus Talamantes was sen-tenced
to LIFE WITHOUT PA-ROLE
for the August 2006 mur-der
of Daniel Baugh, 17.
Baugh was shot three times in a
Tulsa apartment complex.
F ifteen murderers have
been sent to prison from
Tulsa County in 2008 as
of May 31. Five others were
convicted of manslaughter and
sent to prison.
Juries sentenced one to death
and delivered long sentences to
eleven others. Four pled guilty
or no contest to murder rather
than face a jury. A mistrial was
declared in one case where a jury
could not reach a unanimous
verdict, and one defendant was
acquitted by a jury.
A jury sentenced Vicki Chiles
to LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE in
the May 2007 death of Joshua
Minton, 2. Chiles operated a
day-care home where Joshua
Minton stayed. Chiles told police
she covered Joshua’s mouth with
tape because he was fussy and
noisy.
Kenneth Dominick Johnson
was convicted of murdering
Kayla Burchett, 10, Tara
Burchett-Thompson, 26, and
Mitch Thompson, 28 and
sentenced to three terms of
LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE. The
three were shot to death in their
Owasso home in August 2005.
Johnson also received a 20-year
term for first-degree burglary.
Shelly & Ples Vann Jr. were
shot to death at their Tulsa
home in 2004.
District Attorney Brings Justice for 15 Murder Victims
INSIDE:
Murder Cases 2
Victim
Compensation
3
Juvenile Justice 5
Robbery Cases 6
What Does The
DA Do?
7
Message From
DA Tim Harris
8
In Pursuit of Justice
V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 2 J U N E 2 0 0 8
"Justice consists not
in being neutral
between right and
wrong, but in finding
out the right and
upholding it,
wherever found,
against the wrong."
- Theodore Roosevelt
Ten-year-old Kayla
Burchett, shows off birthday
money with her mother,
Tara Burchett-Thompson.
Kayla, Tara, and her hus-band
Mitch Thompson were
shot to death in 2005.
A photographic memorial to
crime victims is now on the
District Attorney website.
“Too often our criminal
justice system is focused on
defendants and the faces of
victims are seldom seen,” Dis-trict
Attorney Tim Harris said.
“The victims were living,
breathing people whose loss is
real to loved ones and to our
community. There are too
many faces, too many names. We
can’t forget them,” he said.
The photos on the website were
supplied by survivors of the victims.
A button on the left side of the home
page links to the slide show.
Survivors who want photos of
victims published can find a release
and instructions to deliver a photo
on the website at
www.da.tulsacounty.org or phone
918-596-4977.
DA Launches Photo Tribute For Victims of Violent Crime
Amey Noelle Mason, 19, was
stabbed to death in 2005.
See MURDERERS Page 2
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