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Officer accused of kicking handcuffed woman

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RE: Officer accused of kicking handcuffed woman

September 11th, 2014 @ 6:27PM (10 years ago)

A real P.O.S. who murdered his girlfriend and tried to murder his own mother by shooting her in the back.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/695687/Teens-kin-testify-in-fatal-shooting.html?pg=all

RE: Officer accused of kicking handcuffed woman

September 21st, 2014 @ 9:10AM (10 years ago)

I have never read a more damning account of how the justice system in this area got someone killed like this. Its a must read. These "public servants" should all be investigated for official misconduct by the Indiana Attorney General.

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/crime/2014/09/20/accused-cannibal-fell-legal-cracks/15914787/

The woman at first told police Oberhansley followed her home uninvited and her boyfriend rescued her. But officers noticed her shirt was on backward and inside out and her pants were unzipped, and she confessed she'd gone with him willingly.

Still, police booked Oberhansley into the Clark County jail on charges of aggravated battery, strangulation and resisting law enforcement.

How his $1,000 cash bond came to be set is unclear. The court record does not note whether prosecutors discovered his violent past and advocated for a higher bond. Nor does it say when David Dodge, Oberhansley's mother's step-father, bailed him out.

County Prosecutor Steven D. Stewart did not respond to inquiries into whether his office was aware of Oberhansley's manslaughter conviction when that bond was set or whether it asked the judge for a higher amount.

Clark County Circuit 3 Judge Joseph Weber said he doesn't recall how the $1,000 cash bond was calculated. Typically, he said, bond is set by schedule, meaning anyone charged with the same class of crime would face the same bond. A class D felony, like Oberhansley's strangulation charge, typically carries a $5,000 bond, which requires a $500 payment for release.

Weber set it higher, requiring a $1,000 payment, though he doesn't recall why, and he doubts he knew of Oberhansley's criminal past.

"There was nothing extraordinary," he said of the case. "I wouldn't have remembered this guy from a lump of coal."

Oberhansley was formally charged on July 29, 2013.

Communication gaffes

Meanwhile, word of Oberhansley's arrest never made it to the Utah Board of Parole and Pardons, the agency that could have issued a warrant on a parole violation, said administrative coordinator Greg Johnson.

"It's really tragic in this case," Johnson said. "I don't know where it broke down."

Oberhansley was being supervised by an Indiana parole officer on behalf of the Utah Department of Corrections through a program called Interstate Compact.

The program enables his Indiana officer to send reports to a Utah parole officer, who would then alert the Utah parole board.

"We absolutely would have wanted to know, and definitely would have considered a warrant," Johnson said. "But there's a kind of chain that has to work for the information to get here."

Harrison said Oberhansley's Indiana parole officer was unsure from the police report if Oberhansley was the victim or perpetrator. He contacted the prosecutor's office, which advised it knew nothing of the case and didn't respond to at least four more subsequent inquiries, Harrison said.

When a quarterly progress report was due to Utah in July 2013, his parole officer noted the arrest. The officer wrote it was unclear if Oberhansley would be prosecuted and promised to alert Utah if charges were formally filed.

Brooke Adams, spokeswoman for the Utah Department of Corrections, said Indiana never told Utah charges had been filed.

And Harrison said neither the prosecutor's office nor Oberhansley notified his Indiana parole officer.

"It's a horrific situation," Harrison said. "But at the same time, I don't believe parole officers in either state could have prevented this."

Oberhansley's parole expired in July of this year. Even if he had been revoked, Utah would have had to turn him lose by July 23, no matter what he'd done.