State of Oklahoma v. Danny Ray Dawkins

Holdenville, Oklahoma, criminal defense lawyer represented the defendant charged with manslaughter and felony possession of a firearm AFCF.



I. Appellant had an absolute right to use lethal force to repel an unlawful intruder. Therefore, he is immune from prosecution and his conviction for manslaughter, in violation of his legal rights, must be vacated and dismissed.



II. The instruction on section 1289.25 was inaccurate and confusing and did not properly convey the law to the jury.



III. Irrelevant instructions, coupled with the prosecutor's misleading argument, erroneously conveyed to the jury that Dawkins was not legally entitled to act in self defense, violating the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article II, §§ 7 and 20 of the Oklahoma Constitution.



IV. Evidence of flight was never contested by the defendant rendering the flight instruction a violation of Dawkins' fundamental presumption of innocence.



V. Prosecutorial misconduct deprived Dawkins of a fair trial.



VI. Dawkins was deprived of the effective assistance of counsel in violation of the sixth and fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article II, Sections 7 and 20 of the Oklahoma Constitution.



VII. The accumulation of error in this case deprived Dawkins of due process of law and necessitates reversal pursuant to the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article II, section 7 of the Oklahoma Constitution.

The Defendant was found guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.



Affirmed



See: 2011 OK CR 1