Tulsa County has a problem and it starts and ends with a dishonest judiciary. The ‘Honorable’ David Guten is up for election in November. This will be the first time Judge Guten has run for office, previously only being appointed to serve as a special (limited jurisdiction) magistrate. Despite being a military man and a family law attorney for a few years, Judge Guten appears to be a very lax juris when it comes to truth and honesty.
As already noted in a previous article on this site titled JUDGE GUTEN LIES this author chronicled in the Judge’s own words a lie created by the Judge under oath. That ‘lie’ was that the judge ordered an attorney handcuffed for doing his job. Then when asked about it under oath the Judge said he did not order this and his deputy must have been ‘mistaken.’
When subpoenaed to speak on this issue the Judge did not show and instead used your tax payer dollars by asking the State Attorney General Office (AG) to interfere with the Subpoena and assist him in
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disobedience. Such behavior is a misdemeanor according to the statutes 22 O.S. 716 and 717.
In this article we will examine the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office (TCDA’s) Bogus Check Program and show this audience that it has been used for years to 1) violate the law 2) obstruct justice 3) commit fraud and 4) lie with impunity.
Any discussion of this subject matter must first begin with the role of the TCDA. The TCDA is responsible for taking a police report, filing charges and asking a judge to issue a warrant for that person’s arrest. In this example someone writes a Bogus Check (BCS). Once a report for BCS comes in the police department will investigate it. In a normal BCS case there will typically be three witnesses: Officer, Bank employee to testify to insufficient funds, and store clerk that recognizes the Defendant and accepted the check or bogus instrument.
In theory it is a kind benevolent program. You wrote some checks and the bank contacted you and said there is no money in the account, you do not refill the deficiency. Months go by and everyone is out their money: store, bank etc. The DA office contacts you with a letter in the mail that says, look, either start paying $50.00 fifty dollars a month or we are going to prosecute you. If you agree you come in, waive the right to an attorney, sign a payment form, and you are done. Each month you pay your
$50.00 fifty dollars. When you start to fall behind or decide to not pay or sign a BCS case gets filed.
Once filed you come to Court and the arraignment judge, for the last two years until recently, Judge Guten would give you the same option. Sir/Ma’am, would you like to get an attorney and fight this or would you like to come back every other month showing proof you paid $50.00 fifty dollars each month. Not surprisingly very few of these cases hire an attorney as most would rather pay and go. Again in theory, everything is perfect, someone strugglingly with payments under ($500.00) five hundred dollars got around a year to pay the amount off.
In actuality the Court has BCS cases that have been passed for over a decade without the Defendants ever coming to Court. Judge Guten when on this docket had people he had never seen and he continued their cases sixty days at a time for years. If a judge will ‘lie’ about whether or not more time should be given for good cause shown and payments provided what else are they willing to lie about?
In 2018 the threshold for BCS cases moved from ($500) five hundred dollars to ($1,000) one thousand dollars. This problem with the BCS docket was first noted when Judge Guten arrested an attorney for free speech issues. When examining who was on the docket that day it became obvious that the BCS docket was not functioning as intended.
One woman has been just about every six weeks for eight years. She has not received a warrant although she has not been to Court since October 2018. (CM-2011-475, Misty Ament-Pace). Another goes twenty-two appearances without ever being present: no attorney and no warrant issued. (CM-2013-5867, Tara McCarty).
Out of thirty people listed, for January 8, 2020 seven came in person the day before, and one called ahead coming two days later to get a new month. The remaining twenty-two ‘no called, no showed,’ and were still given another month to pay the DA’s office with no warrant. Many of the people listed had not been to Court since 2018. Ms. McCarty CM-13-5867 emailed in September of 2019,
although not included in the record, and got five continuances a month apart. Although she was to be in Court 1/8/20 to be a witness, she was not present, and no warrant was issued.
This Bogus Check docket is Court designed to aid the poor and expedite the justice process. In practice, it appears to just be a tool to get the DA office paid and obstruct justice. By passing cases without Defendants being present, the Court is delaying their chance at justice. Even if you do not believe you owe money, the Court is offering such a fair and lenient program. The Court does not even want to get paid; they just want you to do as the DA says. In this program, the Court passes you without you having counsel or knowing and understanding what they are charged with.
This week Judge Guten’s opponent in the November election withdrew. Although most news organizations called it a voluntary withdrawal the Sooner Tea Party, led by Republican Albert ‘Al’ Gerhart took responsibility claiming that the the Former ADA candidate Alderson is thought to be involved in a misappropriation of money out of Pawnee as recently as 2018. It is anticipated that Guten will withdraw as lying under oath and having an entire docket such as the BCS docket dedicated to fraud is not a good look for any member of the judiciary.
