Date: 10-22-2022

Case Style:

State of Oklahoma v. Demarco Danzell Metoyer

Case Number: CF-2016-5998

Judge: Sharon K. Holmes

Court: District Court, Tulsa County, Oklahoma

Plaintiff's Attorney: Tulsa County Oklahoma District Attorney's Office in Tulsa

Defendant's Attorney:

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Description:

Tulsa, Oklahoma criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with two counts of first-degree manslaughter.

¶1 Appellant, Demarco Danzell Metoyer, was tried and convicted by a jury in the District Court of Tulsa County, Case No. CF-2016-5998, of two counts of First Degree Manslaughter, After Former Conviction of Two or More Felonies, in violation of 21 O.S.2011, § 711(1). The jury imposed a sentence of twenty years imprisonment on each count.

¶2 The Honorable Sharon K. Holmes, District Judge, pronounced judgment and sentence in accordance with the jury's verdicts but imposed a $600.00 fine on each count as additional punishment. Judge Holmes ordered both sentences to run concurrently and imposed various costs and fees.1

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¶8 For over forty years, we have interpreted § 926.1 in the following way. So long as a jury's sentencing verdict is within statutory limits, and is otherwise legally proper, the trial judge has the authority to suspend a sentence in whole or part under 22 O.S.2021, § 991a but the court "may not impose a sentence different from that set by the jury." Howell v. State, 1981 OK CR 82, ¶ 9, 632 P.2d 1223, 1225. E.g., Luker v. State, 1976 OK CR 135, ¶ 12, 552 P.2d 715, 719 ("[W]here the jury declare the punishment in their verdict within the limitations fixed by law, the district courts of this State must render a judgment according to such verdict and are without authority to modify the punishment assessed by the jury in pronouncing judgment upon the conviction."); Fleming v. State, 1988 OK CR 163, ¶ 10, 760 P.2d 208, 210 (no abuse of discretion where the trial court considered and rejected the defendant's request for a suspended sentence "then followed its statutory duty and imposed the sentence set by the jury");3 Luna v. State, 2016 OK CR 27, ¶ 18, 387 P.3d 956, 961-62, overruled on other grounds, White v. State, 2021 OK CR 29, ¶ 8, 499 P.3d 762, 767 ("Section 926.1 vests the jury with authority to render punishment. Once a defendant elects a jury trial and the jury decides punishment within the applicable range of punishment in its verdict, the trial court must impose the jury's punishment verdict."). This interpretation is consistent with neighboring statutes addressing the trial court's duties when the jury fails to agree, or does not declare, such punishment by their verdict or otherwise sets punishment greater than the highest limit declared by law for the offense. See 22 O.S.2021, §§ 927.1-928.1.

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Outcome: ¶33 The Judgment and Sentence of the district court is AFFIRMED except the $600.00 fine imposed for each count is STRICKEN. Appellant's application to supplement the record or, in the alternative, for evidentiary hearing is DENIED. Pursuant to Rule 3.15, Rules of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, Title 22, Ch. 18, App. (2022), the MANDATE is ORDERED issued upon delivery and filing of this decision.

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Defendant's Experts:

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