New Law: Cowboys, Indians and The Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Office

Last week the Chanda Turner Reform Act went into effect in Oklahoma. The new law is groundbreaking. It provides families whose loved ones deaths were ruled "suicides" the ability to appeal the medical examiners ruling in hopes of having the cause of death changed.

The new law is appropriately named after Chanda Turner 23, shot to death at her home on July 12, 2000. She was ending the relationship and moving on with her life minus him. Her boyfriend who has significant ties to the town from everything to erected street signs, park plaques to a relative as one the original founding town member of Pauls Valley, claimed Chanda shot herself.

Crime scene photo's would tell a different story, the truth. This includes the photo's taken of defense wounds on the shooter. But, the heavy handed political powers in town, the very people that magically appear on the original crime scene log the evening of the 12th or do not appear depending on which log you view, cover-up the truth. Just so a powerful family in my opinion can keep their son out of prison.

Sadly, no one thinks about the prison for Chanda Turner's family. They endured a nightmare for nearly a dozen years. From the day their daughter was murdered they have fought against the powers of political corruption and cowardice by their own community. Last year while in Oklahoma, I witnessed firsthand many turn their backs during my trip for the families seeking justice and those on the Justice For The Dead site created by attorney Jaye Mendros. By mid-week the tide had turned people were finally listening.

Now, with the new in place, the train to justice has pulled out of the station and is headed on track to the halls of justice.

The journey for justice is not only about a new law, but a group of people, strangers really who came together for a cause greater than themselves. The power of one family, the Turner's reaching out to others whose loved ones also lost their lives by someone else's hand. The medical examiners office(s) in the state of Oklahoma recklessly stamping death certificates as suicides when in actuality are homicides.

Make no mistake if you are a family of a suspicious death or you know in your heart that a loved one did not die by their own hand, do not give up. Fight for justice in their untimely silence. If you do not believe you can make changes to correct a corrupt or blind system, get a hold of me and I will connect you to Joe and Donna Turner!

http://www.okcfox.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/kokh_vid_4220.shtml

Susan Murphy Milano is a staff member of the Institute for Relational Harm Reduction and Public Pathology Education. She is a specialist with intimate partner violence prevention strategies and high risk cases and available for personal consultations through the Institute. She is also part of the team at Management Resources Limited of New York.

Susan is a contributor to Forbes : Crime, She Writes a powerhouse lineup of female true crime professionals, experts and authors providing commentary about the hottest topics on crime, justice, and law from a woman’s perspective.

Susan is the author of "Time's Up: A Guide on How to Leave and Survive Abusive and Stalking Relationships,"Moving out, Moving on, and Defending Out Lives. Susan is the host of The Susan Murphy Milano Show, "Time's Up!" . She is a regular contributor to the nationally syndicated "The Roth Show" with Dr Laurie Roth and a co-host on Crime Wire.

Garvin County Oklahoma: Time's Up!

Over 100 poster's on the reward money offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of "those" (notice the plural here) responsible for the murder of Sheila Deviney were placed in windows of businesses all across town.

Today, more than half of the reward signs have been removed or torn down. I learned that people in the town of Lindsay, Oklahoma have been threatened to "remove the signs or else."

It seems that the ex-husband of Sheila Deviney, resides in Lindsay, OK, and rumor has it that the towering former football star has been " allegedly" threatening business owners to take these signs down or damage could happen to their property. Well I guess if I were a business owner in that neck of the woods, I might be scared, too. I would not want to see my business torched or damaged because I didn't listen. And the towns folk with good reason are scared so they are doing as they are told. Did I mention that this alleged killer is a volunteer little league football coach for the Lindsay, OK school district.

Shiela Deviney, 30, died on January 6, 2004, when her mobile home, located about one mile east and one mile south of Maysville, Oklahoma, burned to the ground. She was murdered. It should be no surprise that Sheila had been married to an abusive, controlling man. They had a court date over past-due child support scheduled the next day. According to eye witnesses, her ex-husband was at the home, although by law not allowed on the premises. He and others according to recorded, notarized and sworn affidavit statements I have in a secure location as of this past weekend from eye witnesses attest to certain individuals leaving Sheila's property as flames jumped into the sky. Witnesses say those person's allegedly destroyed evidence and took items from the home.

Recorded information and facts on this case was also first broadcast in detail on August 2, 2010, during the Intimate Partner Homicide Investigation radio show with Sheryl, McCollum, Holly Hughes.

It seems OSBI, Sheriff Steve Brooks and Garvin County Prosecutor Greg Mashburn have done everything in their powers to keep not only this case, but the Chanda Turner and Tom Horton cases from being re-opened, investigated and those responsible prosecuted. The latest in the Sheila Deviney case is that the state wants to destroy the tissue samples by the year 2012, per this Fox News 25 report earlier in the week: Click Here.

Perhaps someone from the Department of Justice can accompany me on my visit next week when I attend back to back events and press conferences in an attempt to have these 3 murder cases finally open for an official investigation. I would also ask for the State Police to be near by, for I am told, allegedly of course, if I go to Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, I could be carried out in a body bag.

Time's Up folks! I will be in Oklahoma as planned. Justice is long overdue for the intimate partner homicides of Sheila Deviney, Chanda Turner and Tom Horton.


(Susan Murphy Milano, is also with the Institute for Relational Harm Reduction & Public Psychopathy Education for more information visit http://www.saferelationships.com/ and is the author of the new book "Time's Up A Guide on How to Leave and Survive Abusive and Stalking Relationships available for purchase at the Institute, Amazon.com and where ever books are sold.)