Judge Denies Motion to Dismiss Murder Charges Against Oklahoma City Pharmacist

A judge denied a motion Thursday to dismiss murder charges against an Oklahoma City pharmacist in the shooting death of a would-be teen robber last year.<br /><br /><strong>More:</strong> <a href="http://www.news9.com/global/story.asp?s=13044153">Pharmacist&#39;s Attorney Says New Details Won&#39;t Affect Murder Case Strategy</a> &nbsp;

Wednesday, August 25th 2010, 4:20 pm

By: News 9


By Adrianna Iwasinski, NEWS 9 

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A judge denied a motion Thursday to dismiss murder charges against an Oklahoma City pharmacist in the shooting death of a would-be teen robber last year.

Pharmacist Jerome Ersland is charged with first-degree murder in the May 2009 shooting death of 16-year-old Antwun Parker inside Reliable Discount Pharmacy in south Oklahoma City. Ersland shot Parker during the attempted robbery.

Judge Tammy Bass-Lesure said she finds the main issue of the case is for a jury to decide.

Defense Attorney Irven Box asked for the case against Jerome Ersland to be dropped since the medical examiner on the case at the time of the shooting has since been terminated. Box said there were discrepancies in the autopsy report done on the shooting victim.

Before the hearing Thursday, District Attorney David Prater said that if the judge denied the motion to dismiss, the defense would ask for a motion to continue the trial in light of new evidence and opinions that have come out of the State Medical Examiner's Office.

Box said former Medical Examiner Dr. Collie Trant's report stated the first shot Ersland fired was non-fatal, but follow-up investigations done by the Medical Examiner's Office showed that as incorrect.

Box said that according to new testimony by another pathologist, Ersland actually fired a lethal shot the first time he fired his gun. The earlier reports labeling his first gunshot as non-fatal led prosecutors to say Ersland's five gunshots to the suspect were unnecessary force.

Though Ersland was at the hearing, he did not take the stand. In fact, the new interim chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Andrew Sibley, was the only witness called to testify.

Dr. Sibley testified that he did not have a conflict with Dr. Trant's original autopsy finding on the manner of Parker's death, and when asked by the District Attorney if Parker was alive when he was shot five more times, Sibley answered "Yes" but added it was conceivable that Parker could have been twitching and moving on the floor after the first gunshot. When asked by the defense if the first gunshot could have been fatal, Sibley answered, "Absolutely."

"Nothing has changed. Absolutely nothing has changed. Things are exactly the way they were when Dr. Trant made that call in the medical examiner's report, and even though this motion was presented to the court alleging other things, (the judge) saw through that and nothing has changed," Prater said.

Ersland's attorney Irven Box said they are not being given enough time to digest all the new evidence but said they will be ready for trial and that the new evidence will only help them. He said all they need to prove is reasonable doubt.

"There's reasonable doubt about whether he was dead after the first shot; there's reasonable doubt his movement; there's reasonable doubt about everything. The bottom line issue is what Jerome Ersland perceived Antwun Parker to be. Dr. Sibley has already said he could have been perceived as a threat."

The trial is set to begin September 13.

*Irven Box also serves as NEWS 9's legal analyst.

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