TULSA, Okla.
(AP) -- A former Oklahoma volunteer sheriff's deputy who said he
mistook his handgun for his stun gun when he fatally shot an unarmed
suspect last year was convicted of second-degree manslaughter on
Wednesday.
Jurors handed down the verdict in
the case of 74-year-old Robert Bates, a wealthy insurance executive
accused of fatally shooting Eric Harris while working with Tulsa County
sheriff's deputies last year during an illegal gun sales sting. Harris,
who had run from deputies, was restrained and unarmed when he was shot.
The
shooting - which was caught on video - sparked several investigations
that, among other things, revealed an internal 2009 memo questioning
Bates' qualifications as a volunteer deputy and showed that Bates, a
close friend of the sheriff's, had donated thousands of dollars in cash,
vehicles and equipment to the agency.
The
jury recommended a four-year prison term, the maximum, and Bates was
handcuffed and taken into custody pending formal sentencing at a later
date.
Bates' defense attorneys argued at trial
that methamphetamine found in Harris' system, along with his cardiac
health, caused his death. Defense attorneys called the killing an
"excusable homicide."
But prosecutors told
jurors that Bates was guilty of culpable negligence when he shot Harris.
One deputy testified that Bates apparently dozed off minutes before
Harris fled from deputies.
Following the
shooting, an outside consultant hired to review the sheriff's office
determined that it suffered from a "system-wide failure of leadership
and supervision" and had been in a "perceptible decline" for more than a
decade. The reserve deputy program was later suspended.
Weeks
after Harris was killed, an internal sheriff's office memo from 2009
was released by an attorney for Harris' family that alleged superiors
knew Bates didn't have enough training but pressured others to look the
other way because of his relationship with the sheriff and the agency.
A
grand jury also investigated the agency and indicted the longtime
sheriff, Stanley Glanz, in September, accusing him of failing to release
the 2009 memo. He resigned on Nov. 1.
The new
sheriff, who was sworn into office earlier this month, has detailed
plans to reform and revive the reserve deputy program.
