Former TPD officer accused of murder bound over for trial

Related story: Police report states officer fatally shot daughter’s boyfriend

Related story: Police officer charged with murder in Jeremy Lake slaying

A former Tulsa police officer accused of shooting his daughter’s boyfriend was bound over for trial Thursday on charges of first-degree murder and two counts of shooting with intent to kill.

Shannon James Kepler, 54, is charged with murder in the Aug. 5 death of Jeremey Lake and shooting with intent to kill at his daughter Lisa Kepler.

Prosecutors on Thursday added another count of shooting with intent to kill for shots allegedly fired at Lake’s 13-year-old brother Michael Hamilton.

Kepler, a 24-year veteran of the Tulsa Police Department who was an instructor at the police academy before retiring in November, and his defense attorney Richard O’Carroll sought to waive the preliminary hearing Thursday morning.

District Attorney-elect Steve Kunzweiler, representing the state, objected to O’Carroll’s motion. Special Judge David Youll sustained the state’s objection and ordered the hearing be held.

Kunzweiler said afterward that he felt a preliminary hearing, where the court determines whether enough evidence exists for a trial to be held on the alleged charges, was important in this case.

“This community needs to hear what these facts are. I’m not going to hide behind (Kepler’s proposed waiver). I want this community to hear from witnesses and hear what their testimony was,” he said.

O’Carroll said he and his client tried to spare witnesses of “the ordeal” of testifying but contends the defense team is in “an enhanced position” because of their unreliable testimony.

“The facts here are all over the board. … I don’t think the truth was in the room today,” O’Carroll told reporters.

Despite having nine witnesses sworn in to testify, Kunzweiler rested after the court heard from Lisa Kepler, Lake’s brother Michael Hamilton and a neighbor who rushed to Lake’s aid.

Hamilton told the court that he was standing on his aunt’s front porch when a black SUV drove into the area and fired shots at him, his brother and Lisa Kepler. He said the gunman aimed directly at him after firing at Lisa Kepler, who sought shelter behind a shrub.

The 13-year-old was grazed by either a bullet or debris. He identified Shannon Kepler as the shooter but said under cross-examination that he’d seen Kepler’s picture on television “a few times.”

He also said Kunzweiler told him what to say on the stand.

After an hour recess at noon, Hamilton said he misspoke and was confused by O’Carroll’s questions.

Kunzweiler asked whether he’d ever told Hamilton to lie, to which Hamilton replied no.

Kunzweiler later told reporters that O’Carroll had asked a broad question without clarifying what Hamilton had been asked to say. Hamilton had testified under direct examination by Kunzweiler that he’d been told to tell the truth, which he reiterated when Kunzweiler questioned him during redirect after O’Carroll’s cross-examination.

O’Carroll asked Youll to strike the bulk of Hamilton’s testimony based on a significant change in Hamilton’s demeanor after the recess.

He speculated medication prescribed to Hamilton may have affected his memory and testimony. Youll overruled the motion but noted concerns about Hamilton’s statements would be considered in his decision.

Lisa Kepler, 18, testified that before the shooting, she and Lake were walking back to his aunt’s home near Maybelle Avenue and M.B. Brady Street from checking on transients who frequented a nearby underpass.

Then, a black SUV resembling her mother’s approached them, flashed its lights and its driver — whose voice she recognized as her father’s — asked her, “What the hell are you doing out here?”

She said she told Lake to leave, but he didn’t and that she knew Shannon Kepler, who was wearing all black including a black hat, “had bad intentions.”

The SUV’s driver then opened fire and Lisa Kepler ran to Lake’s aunt’s front yard nearby.

She said the driver stepped out of the vehicle to shoot Lake and she saw him.

Under cross-examination, O’Carroll maintained Lisa Kepler had contradicted herself in her recollection of events.

She told him, “I can’t just keep remembering everything when I want to forget.”

Lisa Kepler told the court that Lake carried a pocket knife that remained in his pocket that evening. O’Carroll questioned her about a second knife of which Lisa Kepler said she had no knowledge.

Lisa Kepler met Lake about two weeks before his death when her parents dropped her off at the Day Center for the Homeless after she “made some poor decisions.” Within days, she had moved from the shelter to Lake’s aunt’s home, where he also lived.

Another witness, a neighborhood resident who was the first to reach Lake after the shots were fired, testified to hearing Lisa Kepler yell, “It was my dad, it was my f---- — dad. … He shot Jeremey, and he tried to shoot me, too.”

The man, Phillip Milligan, tried to elicit a response from Lake by moving his head but was met with a blank stare.

“You could tell he was just gone,” he said.

Repeated attempts by O’Carroll to quiz Milligan on his feelings toward law enforcement officers were overruled.

The defense attorney later categorized the witnesses to reporters as a convict, a child and someone who contradicted herself almost immediately.

The case is scheduled for district court arraignment on Jan. 5.