Nichols Seeks DNA Database Expansion

Expanding the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation’s (OSBI) DNA database could help solve some of the most horrific crimes committed according to Senator Jonathan Nichols, author of Senate Bill 1102.

The measure would add a number of misdemeanor crimes to the felony crimes already on the books which can result in the harvesting of DNA samples. The measure was approved by the full Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday.

“We’re talking about people who have been charged and convicted of misdemeanor criminal acts like peeping toms,” said Nichols, R-Norman. “We know for a fact that cold cases are often solved through DNA, and the perpetrator’s DNA may be in the system because of an entirely unrelated crime.”

Nichols, a former prosecutor, reminded the committee that was exactly how the 1996 murder of University of Oklahoma ballet student Julie Buskin was ultimately solved. “This gives us an even greater opportunity to capture and punish individuals responsible for some of the most heinous crimes imaginable.”

Nichols stressed that unlike other proposed legislation requiring DNA collection upon arrest, under SB 1102, only those convicted would be required to submit a DNA sample. His measure would include those convicted of misdemeanor crimes such as outraging public decency; resisting arrest; escape or attempting to escape; eluding a police officer; peeping tom; pointing a firearm; unlawfully carrying or discharging of a weapon; illegal transporting; negligent homicide; causing a personal accident while driving under the influence; unlawful discharge of a weapon; destruction of property or threatening an act of violence.

“Those convicted of such crimes will have already submitted to fingerprinting, this simply adds the collection of a DNA sample,” Nichols said. “This in no way intrudes on the lives of law-abiding citizens, and it will help us do a better job of protecting innocent Oklahomans.”

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Democrats Target GOP's Jim Reynolds, Launch $100,000 Television Commercial Attack

The October Surprise of the Oklahoma Senate campaigns has arrived, and it is a true surprise: Democrats are making a run at Oklahoma City's Jim Reynolds, hoping that attacks and a famous-name opponent can defeat the two-term Republican conservative.

Starting today, a hard-hitting, negative television campaign said to cost $100,000 began airing. The commercials target Reynolds in his District 43 (Oklahoma County running south from Tinker and northern Cleveland County) seat.

The commercials say they are paid for by the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.

Reynolds is the unanticipated target of the large television buy; some had presumed Democrats would target either open seat candidate Jim Halligan (District 21, Stillwater) or Senator Jonathan Nichols (District 15, Norman).

Halligan is seeking the seat of outgoing pro tempore Mike Morgan (D) and polling indicates he will win, thus it's a potential loss for the Democrats.

Nichols, a conservative two-term incumbent, is defending Republican-leaning turf in Norman where Democrats are less likely to cross party lines.

But tracking polls in both parties, we're told, indicated a safe Nichols and a charging Halligan, so the man caught in the Democrat headlights is Reynolds as Democrats fight to stave off what most believe will be Republican control of the Senate for the first time in history.

Reynolds, who has raised about $156,000, shows no major expenditures except for postage and printing and his last report shows he had about $119,000 in cash on hand. His Democrat famous-name opponent, David Boren, has raised and spent less than a fifth of the sum Reynolds has spent.

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Nichols Raises $47,500 At Norman Event

Republican State Senator Jonathan Nichols' backers are jubilant after he reportedly raised $47,500 at a Tuesday night fundraiser, setting what they say is a new single-event record for a legislative candidate.

The event was held in the home of Norman businessman and investor Stanton Nelson with Steve Owens and Barry Switzer as headliners.

There were an estimated 120 attendees and Nichols raised $47,500 at the door: "This is a one-day state legislative record" said a source. "No one has ever raised that much money that quickly for a single legislative campaign."

Nichols' campaign warchest is said to now be in excess of $150,000.

Democrat Diane Manchester Drum, a trial lawyer, seeks her party's nomination to oppose Nichols. She is the daughter of the late prominent trial attorney Robert Manchester.

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Senate Approves Religious Expression Measure

Senator Jonathan Nichols has won overwhelming approval for a measure to protect the right of victims to discuss their religious beliefs or reference the bible when giving impact statements in court. The measure, Senate Bill 2004, was approved Wednesday 43 to 2.

Nichols said he filed the legislation in response to last year’s decision by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to overturn the death penalty in the Trooper Nikky Joe Green murder trial.

The Court reversed the imposition of the death penalty for Green’s killer, Ricky Ray Malone, in part because Green’s widow referenced God and the Bible in her impact statement.

“There was absolutely nothing in state law that prevented Mrs. Green from discussing her faith during her impact statement,” said Nichols, R-Norman. “”My legislation protects the rights of victims to talk about their belief in God or the Bible.”

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Nichols Given 'Exemplary Service Award' By OSBI

By Tom Blakey, Norman Transcript ~ Jonathan Nichols, R-Norman, recently was honored by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation with the Director’s Award for Exemplary Service.

Nichols said he was “taken aback" by the award, which he didn’t expect. “I’m honored to have received this award and certainly didn’t expect it,” Nichols said. “It certainly motivates me to continue working hard in this area.”

Nichols, who was elected to the state Senate in 2000, was honored for numerous measures that have given the OSBI tools to fight crime more effectively and provide a more rapid response to crimes against Oklahoma’s most vulnerable citizens, including children, officials said.

OSBI spokesperson Jessica Brown praised Nichols for his efforts to make the state “a safer place to live, work and raise a family.”

“Sen. Nichols has been a great champion for law enforcement and specifically the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation,” she said. “His efforts to help us fight crimes against children and solve cold cases through expanding the DNA data base have proven invaluable to law enforcement and the safety of our state as a whole.”

In addition to increasing funding to OSBI, Nichols authored two key laws that empowered the OSBI to better investigate child abuse cases as well as other violent cases that had gone cold because of lack of leads or evidence, officials said.

In 2005, Nichols authored Senate Bill 646, which authorized the OSBI to collect DNA from individuals convicted of felony offenses. Previously, collections for the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) were only authorized for 40 particular felony crimes. According to the OSBI, Senate Bill 646 has directly resulted in the identification of suspects in 85 different investigations which were unsolved prior to the passage of the legislation.

“I had hoped the legislation would be useful, but even I’m surprised at the impact it’s had in a short amount of time,” Nichols said.

Nichols has filed legislation this session that would expand the DNA database even further by requiring persons who are convicted of certain violent misdemeanors, such as assault and battery, domestic violence and stalking, to submit DNA samples.

“If we can get this passed, I think we’ll see the level of cold hits increased even more,” Nichols said.
Nichols also was recognized for the Child Abuse Response Team (CART) that was created through legislation he authored in 2006.

Senate Bill 1800 established CART within the OSBI, for the purpose of investigating physical and sexual child abuse. CART is a team of child abuse professionals called in to address emergency child abuse cases throughout the state.

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Nichols Blasts Court Of Criminal Appeals Decision

State Senator Jonathan Nichols blasted the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals today.

His criticism came in response to the decision by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to overturn the death penalty in the Trooper Nikky Joe Green murder trial.

Nichols, R-Norman, blasted the Court’s decision to reverse the imposition of the death penalty for Green’s killer, Ricky Ray Malone, in part because Green’s widow referenced God and the Bible.

“The Court of Criminal Appeals has broken loose like a liberal cannon on the deck of Oklahoma’s system of justice,” said Nichols, the co-chair of the Senate’s Appropriations Subcommittee on Public Safety. “This latest opinion blows a gaping hole in the heart of Oklahoma’s conservative, but fair, courts of law and order.”

Citing specific statements by Green’s widow in which she referenced God and the Bible, three of the five justices on the Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that “invocation of a religious belief and obligation in the context of a capital sentencing recommendation is totally inappropriate.”

“I thought I was reading an opinion written in some bizarre world where Ted Kennedy was running our courts,” Nichols said. “Instead, I was reading an opinion that the majority of our justices wrote while sitting on Oklahoma’s highest court for criminal appeals.”

The Court concluded that, “while Malone might have had only a slim chance of avoiding a death sentence in his original trial, the religious and duty-based plea of the victim’s wife that Malone be shown ‘no mercy’ squelched whatever slim chance he had.”

“I can’t believe that the majority opinion actually reversed a death penalty in part because the widow of a murdered Oklahoma State Trooper spoke about God and the Bible,” Nichols said, “Do these justices expect her to sit there void of any emotion in some attempt not to offend the murderer of her husband and one of Oklahoma’s finest Troopers?”

Two of the Justices disagreed with the majority of the Court’s decision. In his dissenting opinion, Presiding Judge Gary Lumpkin stated that he “found nothing inappropriate about references in victim impact evidence to God and the Bible. It seems as though courts have become overly phobic of any references to God or the Bible.”

“The Court of Criminal Appeals effectively turned to the widow of Trooper Green and punished her for invoking God’s name and referencing the Bible,” Nichols said. “Now the Court orders her to relive the nightmare of another sentencing stage, but this time – no God, no Bible and no tears.”

Nichols believes that the Court’s ruling to ban religious invocations in victim impact statements was unnecessary and over-reaching.

“The Court went out of its way to unnecessarily consider this non-issue of whether to ban God and the Bible from victim impact statements,” Nichols said. “This is another case of judicial activism running amuck.”

Nichols also believes that the Court’s language proscribing religious invocations will create a chilling effect where victims will not be allowed to reference God, and he also fears “the Court has created a new basis for over turning death penalties.”

“As I recall there was one other time a person related to this case cried out and invoked God’s name,” Nichols said. “It was Trooper Green, while he pled for his life and for his children, just before this murderer shot him dead.”

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