Trooper accuser charge dropped

[Okiegal123]

Trooper accuser charge dropped

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=071016_1_A9_hThec27460


by: RHETT MORGAN World Staff Writer
10/16/2007


The case against a woman who claims that an OHP officer cursed at her belongs in Oklahoma County, the D.A. says.


ARDMORE -- The Carter County District Attorney's Office has dropped a perjury charge against a Louisiana woman who claims that an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper cursed at her during a 2006 traffic stop.

Carter County Special Judge Charles Tate ordered the felony count against Latisha White of Alexandria, La., dismissed without prejudice, meaning the charge may be refiled.

Tate withdrew an arrest warrant for White.

"While jurisdictional requirements could theoretically be met in Carter County, the more appropriate venue for a criminal prosecution of this matter is most likely Oklahoma County," Carter County District Attorney Craig Ladd wrote in the Oct. 10 motion for dismissal.

Although White wrote her Oklahoma Department of Public Safety complaint against OHP Trooper Rocky Northcutt in Rapides Parish, La., it was filed at the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety's headquarters in Oklahoma City, which is in Oklahoma County.

"The Carter County District Attorney's decision and action on this matter speaks for itself," White's attorney, Lance McCrary, said in a faxed statement to the Tulsa World.

Prosecutors had charged White with perjury, saying she lied when she wrote in a notarized DPS complaint that Northcutt screamed numerous expletives at her during a Sept. 3, 2006, traffic stop involving her sister, Stormy Knight, near Ardmore.

A purported video of the incident viewed Oct. 2 by the Tulsa World contains no foul language. In her complaint, White accused Northcutt, a former National Trooper of the Year, of using the f-word five times.

Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater did not immediately return a telephone message. Gary James, an attorney who represents the Oklahoma State Troopers Association, said he believes that Prater is reviewing the case.

Oklahoma documents seeking to extradite White were withdrawn last month after the Louisiana Attorney General's Office found that the paperwork contained errors.

White's complaint to the Department of Public Safety was not sworn to and notarized in Carter County, as Ladd alleged, Louisiana Assistant Attorney General Mimi Hunley said in September. Records show that White's complaint was written Sept. 11, 2006, in Rapides Parish, La.

Northcutt is suing White for libel/slander in Oklahoma County, records show.

White's civil defamation lawsuit against Northcutt in Louisiana has been transferred from Alexandria city court to a district court, which has an unlimited jurisdiction for damages, said Chris J. Roy Sr., White's attorney in that matter.

[rachel23]

1. Most cops are nice people

There are a few bad ones. My boyfriend is studying to be a detective.