DA Calls For Change After Man Convicted In Disappearance Of Welch Girls Gets Early Prison Release

The Oklahoma Attorney General and Craig County DA said the laws need to be changed after learning a man sentenced to 10 years for accessory to murder is being released after serving a little more than two.

Ronnie Busick is set to be released from prison on May 19 after being convicted in connection to the disappearance of two Welch girls, Lauria Bible and Ashley Freeman.

Many people don’t understand how this is happening.

The Bible family said any new legislation that would make accessory to murder an 85 percent crime, won't help Lauria and Ashley's case, but could help other families in the future.

A letter from Attorney General saying there’s nothing he can do about Ronnie Busick’s release sent the Bible family spiraling.

“What we’ve been doing for 23 years hasn’t worked so laws have to change and we’re gonna start with that and then we’re gonna have to start having someone be accountable for the constant failures that our family has received,” said Lisa Brodrick, Lauria’s cousin.

AG Gentner Drummond said he would help any legislator who drafts a bill making accessory to murder, a crime that requires a person to serve 85 percent of their time before being released.

“We can take the defeat but where do we go from there cause it’s not gonna keep us down,” said Lorene Bible, Lauria’s mother.

Craig County DA Matt Ballard also supports new legislation and said he’s ‘frustrated’ and ‘outraged.'

The Bible family said nobody ever explained how prison time works.

The department of corrections said Busick is not being released early, but has served his sentence, based on the way they calculate time.

They said he was a level 4 prisoner, so he got 45 days credit for every 30 days he served.

Plus, prisoners get additional credit for things like good behavior, taking a class and getting a job behind bars, plus, he got credit for his time in the county jail.

"We’d never done that deal. I’d say let’s put him up against 12 jurors and see what he gets. But we thought this was the best deal,” said Lorene.

Lorene said what they want most still is to find the girls and until then, she created this memorial in their memory.

Lorene is asking for anyone who visits the memorial to bring lights in place of flowers so family and friends can feel comfortable visiting here after dark.

In a letter to the Bible and Freeman Families, AG Gentner Drummond said, "The murders of Lauria Bible and Ashley Freeman and the murders of Danny and Kathy Freeman were horrific and deserving of the harshest punishment allowed by law." Drummond went on to say he is "suggesting in a separate letter to Representative Steve Bashore that any bill introduced to change the Accessory to Murder law be named after Lauria and the Freeman family, as a testament to the power of [their] voices and to ensure that [their] loved ones' names live on."

"Prosecutors and law enforcement are frustrated regularly when investigations lead to felony convictions and stout prison sentences that result in the criminal only serving a fraction of their time behind bars," said DA Matt Ballard. "We’re outraged on behalf of victims and their families when a handful of years satisfies a ten, twenty, or thirty-year sentence. Due to lax sentencing laws that camouflage the reality of how much of a sentence may actually be served. At the end of the day, there is no amount of prison time we would consider fair or just for the man who helped kidnap, abuse, and ultimately murder 16-year-old Lauria and Ashley."

Ballard also said in a statement, "Against those odds, [investigators] are still not calling it quits. They didn’t stop looking when Busick was sentenced; his release won’t deter them from continuing to try and bring the girls home. Regardless of how slim the chances appear, the possibility keeps these tireless investigators going."