Criminal Case: State v. Jonathan L. Bradley [CF-17-29][Choctaw County]
- Count 1: Possession w/Intent to Distribute CDS w/in 2000 feet of a school or park
- Count 2: Possession w/Intent to Distribute CDS w/in 2000 feet of a school or park
- Count 3: Endangering Others While Eluding/Attempting to Elude Police Officer
- Count 4: Resisting an Officer
- Count 5: Failure to Wear Seat Belt
Result: Case Dismissed
Summary: Mr. Bradley was driving his car with a passenger inside in Hugo, OK when the sheriff tried to pull him over. According to the sheriff, Mr. Bradley raced away and tossed drugs out the window before he spun out in the road. In a common abuse of the statute, the DA charged him with intending to sell these drugs near a park or school merely because he drove within 2000 feet of the school. The intent to sell and school enhancements substantially increase the sentencing range for what would otherwise be a simple possession charge.
In this hotly contested case, Haslam and the DA argued over the constitutionality of the law that allows prosecutors to prove the lab test results at preliminary hearing without putting the lab analyst on the stand. After the Court ruled it would allow the analyst’s positive drug lab report without the analyst’s live testimony, the State began requesting continuances of the preliminary hearing because a deputy sheriff involved was absent. Haslam objected to the first continuance request because the State did not comply with the strict technical requirements of such requests. After the Court and Haslam quarreled over the Court’s refusal to provide a court reporter for this objection, it continued the preliminary hearing over Haslam’s objection and reset it two months later; however, sensing the State was bending the truth on the imminent availability of its absent witness, Haslam got the hearing reset days later.
Sure enough, the State filed another motion to continue the hearing, and again, the motion was defective. Haslam filed a more detailed written objection and motion to dismiss the case. At the December 12, 2017 preliminary hearing, the prosecutor could not produce its witness and the Court granted Haslam’s motion to dismiss all charges. Mr. Bradley went home to his family a free man for Christmas.