A grand jury will be convened before the end of July to investigate the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office.
District Judge Rebecca Nightingale ruled Tuesday signatures collected by We The People Oklahoma are valid despite a request from Sheriff Stanley Glanz to dismiss them. Marq Lewis with We The People called it a victory for citizens of Tulsa County.
"This is what we have done. This is what we kept pushing our message for," Lewis said after Nightingale issued her ruling. "I mean, this is grueling, but every day we have pushed it and we said, 'Believe in the process.' The system is working for the citizens."
Attorneys for Glanz asked for the signatures to be thrown out because the pages weren’t attached to the 33-page petition. Lewis said Glanz’s attorneys made good arguments during the all-day hearing.
"Any time you're in the courtroom, you always worry," Lewis said. "I mean, it's never a sure win, so — they had their own compelling arguments, but I'm glad our point was stronger."
Lewis isn’t sure he would have gone after the signatures again.
"It takes a lot, you know, to motivate people and get to people encouraged to believe into the system," Lewis said. "I'm just glad it worked for us today and we don't even have to think about that."
Nightingale ordered a grand jury be convened within 30 days of June 23, when the signatures were verified by the county election board. We The People has organized protests and filed the grand jury petition in the wake of a volunteer deputy’s fatal shooting of an unarmed man.
John Carwile, Glanz's attorney, left the court house without comment.
