Evidence Missing In Former Tulsa Officer's Murder Trial, Attorney Claims

The attorney for a former Tulsa police officer charged with murdering his daughter's boyfriend says evidence is missing in his client's case.

Wednesday, October 28th 2015, 10:12 pm

By: News On 6

Evidence Missing In Former Tulsa Officer's Murder Trial, Attorney Claims

The attorney for a former Tulsa police officer charged with murdering his daughter's boyfriend says evidence is missing in his client's case.

Shannon Kepler is charged with first-degree murder and two counts of shooting with intent to kill. The shooting took place while Kepler was off duty .

Court records show there were two 911 calls given to the defense in July, but Shannon Kepler's attorney says there are more and he needs them to get ready for his client's trial.

As the legal proceedings in his first-degree murder case continue, Kepler's defense attorney says he needs 911 calls from District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler to build his case.

"I don't want to play games anymore. I've been in that building for 29 years, I know what games are played and I'm tired of it," said Richard O'Carroll Kepler's attorney.

"My obligation is to make sure the defense has what I have and if there is documentation out there they are aware of that I may be able to secure than I am going to do everything to help them do that," said Kunzweiler.

A document filed on July 14th of this year shows the state turned over one CD with two 911 calls to the defense. Kunzweiler says they were calls answered by the Tulsa police dispatch on August 5th 2014. The night Kepler is accused of shooting his daughter's boyfriend, Jeremy Lake.

"Neither one of them are the ones I'm asking for and I know there's more because witnesses have testified there is more, this isn't a big surprise there," O'Carroll said.

Kunzweiler is required by law to hand over all reports in his prossession made by law enforcement agencies. When you dial 911, you're asked if you need police, fire or EMSA, Kunzweiler says it's possible the call was redirected to somewhere other than police.

Kunzweiler said, "I'll look at that, obviously those agencies aren't law enforcement agencies so I'll have to get a subpoena for that."

In the meantime, O'Carroll says he's holding onto his evidence, until he gets what he needs from the prosecution.

"I haven't give him anything and I don't intend to because until i know what his evidence is I'm not going to be able to formulate my theory of defense," O'Carroll said.

Right now Kepler's case is set to go to trial mid January. The district attorney doesn't believe this will impact the trial date as long as both sides get all the evidence they have gathered to each other before then.