Teen Triple Murderer Gets 3 Life Terms
Repo...@home.net
news
wire:
Teen Triple Murderer Gets 3 Life Terms
October 20, 1999
ABC
(TULSA) - A Tulsa teen -- accused of murdering his own parents and
another
person -- has been sentenced to three separate life terms with no
parole.
Sixteen-year-old Dylan Shanks was 15 at the time of the killings back in
August
of 1998. Prosecutors argued Shanks killed his parents and his
girlfriend's
grandfather because he wanted to be free from parental rules. It took a
jury
just three-and-a-half hours to convict Shanks.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of the 10/18/99 Associated Press news
wire:
Shanks tells of killing parents
Associated Press(Tulsa-AP) – The case is expected to go to the jury
today in
the murder trial of Dylan Ray Shanks.
The Glenpool teen-ager says he can’t explain why he committed the
crimes. Shanks says the victims did not deserve to die.
Shanks is charged as an adult. He was 15-years-old when he
allegedly
killed his parents, Alva Ray Shanks Junior and Carolyn Shanks, and
Emmett
Smith.
He faces the possibility of life in prison without parole if
convicted.
Shanks testified yesterday that he felt like another person the day
he
killed the victims. He said he wanted to stop but just couldn’t.
Doctor Bill Sharp is a psychologist retained by the defense. Sharp
testified that he believes Shanks was “certainly under the influence at
that
time.” Sharp describes Shanks as chemically addicted.
---------------------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of the 10/20/99 online edition of The
Tulsa
World newspaper:
Teen is guilty of slayings
By BILL BRAUN World Staff Writer
10/20/99
Jurors say Dylan Shanks should spend the rest of his life in prison for
killing
his parents and a Tulsan.
An emotional trial reached an emotional conclusion Tuesday when a Tulsa
jury
found Dylan Ray Shanks guilty of three counts of first-degree murder and
imposed the maximum possible punishment of life without parole on each
count.
Shanks, 16, closed his eyes after the verdicts were announced and
struggled to
keep from crying while being escorted by deputy sheriffs from a
courtroom back
to jail.
Jackie Smith, the sole survivor among the four people who were shot by
Shanks,
cried and embraced supporters after the seven-day trial.
"I just prayed and prayed that justice would be done," she said. "I feel
like
justice was done today."
Smith said she is saddened and "devastated that a 15-year-old boy would
put
himself in this position."
Shanks was 15 when the shootings occurred on Aug. 7, 1998.
Jurors deliberated about 3-1/2 hours and found Shanks guilty of
murdering his
parents, Alva Ray Shanks Jr., 43, and Carolyn Shanks, 39, at their
Glenpool-area home. The seven-man, five- woman panel also found him
guilty of
murdering Emmett Smith, 57, at the Smiths' home in the 500 block of
North 37th
West Avenue.
He was convicted of a fourth count of shooting and wounding Emmett's
wife,
Jackie, with an intent to kill.
A tearful Shanks had testified Monday that "there is no reason" to
explain why
he killed three people who "didn't deserve to die."
Jurors decided Tuesday that he deserved three sentences of life without
parole,
which Associate District Judge Bill Beasley will likely order to run
consecutively.
Beasley instructed the jury not to impose any punishment for shooting
with
intent to kill, because Shanks is governed by provisions of the Youthful
Offender Act on that count.
Lawyers agreed that the judge can decide a punishment for Shanks later
after a
hearing -- strictly on that count -- to determine whether he should be
sentenced as an adult or a youthful offender for that offense.
Another judge had determined a year ago that Shanks should be tried as
an adult
on the murder counts, and the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals
affirmed that
finding in February.
In closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Paul Wilkening said
Shanks
should be punished "to the fullest extent of the law" for a "killing
spree."
"A triple murderer -- very closely a quadruple murderer -- should not
ever,
ever go free," Wilkening said.
Assistant Public Defender Robert Ridenour called Shanks a good boy" who
"was
screwed up" by being "strung out on drugs." Shanks, who had aspirations
to be a
preacher, was "twisted by the religion that he sought to follow and the
dope
that he couldn't get away from."
"The boy knows he deserves punishment," Ridenour said. "No matter how
long he
goes to prison for, Dylan will carry the burden of what he has done."
The murder counts required a legal finding that Shanks had an intent to
kill.
Jurors rejected the option of returning verdicts on the lesser offense
of
first-degree manslaughter, which allows a minimum sentence of four
years.
Manslaughter verdicts would not have required any finding of
premeditation, but
rather would have hinged upon a determination that Shanks acted in the
"heat of
passion."
Wilkening said Shanks made a series of decisions to shoot each of his
parents
twice with a .22- caliber rifle before getting into a vehicle and
driving
almost 20 miles to another residence, where he shot the Smiths with the
same
rifle four hours later.
The Smiths were grandparents of Christina Fuller, now 15. She was
Shanks'
girlfriend.
"The bottom line" is that Shanks "wanted to be free of parental
guidance,"
Wilkening said. "He wanted to be free of the drag that parents are when
you are
15 years old."
After the trial, Ridenour ex pressed disappointment with the no-parole
life
terms but said the jury had a "right to make that decision."
Wilkening said jurors "followed the law" and made a "hard decision."
"These families will never be the same," the prosecutor said.
Jackie Smith said she "did not want him (Shanks) to get out in my
lifetime,
because I would be scared."
Shanks will appeal the outcome. Because he was 15 when the killings
occurred,
by law the death penalty was not an option.
---------------------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of the 10/18/99 online edition of The
Tulsa
World newspaper:
Teen says he regrets killings
By BILL BRAUN World Staff Writer
10/19/99
A psychologist says the teen was on drugs at the time of the shootings.
Dylan Ray Shanks told jurors Monday that he "made some tragic, horrible
decisions" and killed three people -- including his own parents -- who
"didn't
deserve to die."
"There is no reason," the 16-year- old defendant said through his own
tears.
"It shouldn't have happened. Three people died, and one (other) person
got
shot. I did it, and there is no reason."
Shanks indicated that he was using many different drugs prior to the
Aug. 7,
1998, shootings and that "the drugs weren't really having an effect on
me any
more. I was in, like, a state of stupor."
A psychologist who was retained by the defense testified that he thinks
the
"chemically addicted" Shanks was "certainly under the influence at that
time."
Jurors will deliberate Shanks' fate on Tuesday.
He is on trial on two counts of first- degree murder for the slayings of
Alva
Ray Shanks Jr., 43, and Carolyn Shanks, 39, at their Glenpool-area home.
He is also on trial on a first-degree murder count in the shooting of
Emmett
Smith, 57. He faces a fourth count of shooting Jackie Smith, Emmett's
wife,
with an intent to kill at the Smith residence in the 500 block of North
37th
West Avenue.
The punishment alternatives if Shanks is convicted of first-degree
murder are
life in prison or life without the possibility of parole.
Tulsa Associate District Judge Bill Beasley will likely give jurors the
option
of returning verdicts on a lesser charge -- such as first-degree
manslaughter
or second-degree murder -- which would allow the possibility of
sentences less
than life.
Shanks testified that during a future incarceration, he will "do what
the Lord
will have me do now."
He said he started smoking marijuana in the sixth grade and would take
some of
his father's marijuana and sell it for money in order to get harder
drugs.
"My dad was a good dad. He grew marijuana and he sold it, but that
doesn't make
him an evil person," Shanks testified. "He taught me the morals and the
basics
of life."
He said that while he had "access to marijuana" at home, his parents
"never
gave it to me."
Shanks said he sought to be a preacher but couldn't "stop doing drugs"
and was
"so strung out" in early August 1998.
On Aug. 7, "my plan for that day was never to kill my parents," he
testified.
Shanks said that his girlfriend, Christina Fuller -- who lived with her
grandparents, the Smiths -- phoned him that morning and said she was
"grounded."
Shanks indicated that he did not think about killing his parents until
after
Fuller's brother, Bryon Lee Johnson, was "talking about killing his
grandparents," pawning some property and going to California.
Shanks cried as he described to jurors shooting his father, hearing his
mother's screams before he shot her twice, and then shooting his father
again
while he was "crawling on the floor."
Shanks said he "felt as if I was there but I wasn't, as if I was out of
my
body" and "trying to stop these things."
He said that several hours later he shot the Smiths, although the plan
called
for Johnson to kill them. Johnson gave him the gun at the last moment,
according to Shanks.
"I loved my mom and dad, and they loved me," he testified.
Shanks indicated that his parents didn't deserve to be "murdered by
their own
son," the Smiths didn't deserve to get shot and Jackie Smith "didn't
deserve to
watch her husband die."
Dr. Bill Sharp, director of behavioral services for the Children's
Justice
Center in Canadian County, was retained by defense lawyers to interview,
test
and evaluate Shanks. The defendant "was scared for no good reason" on
Aug. 7,
1998, said Sharp, a psychologist who specializes in drug-related
assessments
and treatment.
Shanks "just makes really poor decisions when he has the stuff in his
system,"
Sharp testified. He said a "chemically addicted" person like the
defendant "is
the last person you want to ask" regarding the impact of his own
substance
abuse on his actions.