Terrill, Leftwich Surrender To Authorities, Make Court Appearance

A member of the Oklahoma House and a former member of the state Senate who face felony bribery charges have made their initial court appearance after turning themselves in to the Oklahoma County jail Monday morning.

Sunday, January 2nd 2011, 8:26 pm

By: News 9


Adrianna Iwasinski, News 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A member of the Oklahoma House and a former member of the state Senate who face felony bribery charges have made their initial court appearance after turning themselves in to the Oklahoma County jail Monday morning.

Oklahoma County Special Judge Russell Hall entered not guilty pleas on Monday afternoon for Rep. Randy Terrill of Moore and former Sen. Debbe Leftwich of Oklahoma City. Hall set their next court appearance for March 17.

Leftwich and Terrill were booked in, fingerprinted and had mug shots taken. County sheriff's spokesman Mark Myers said Leftwich was booked at 10 a.m. and Terrill followed at 10:15 a.m.

Terrill made a long statement to reporters after is initial appearance in court.

"Welcome to the circus," said Terrill, as he went on to profess his innocence. "What we have here is actually a good old fashioned political persecution, not a criminal prosecution. By a overzealous, hyper partisan democrat district attorney who has charged a nonexistent crime."

Terrill said he is not being targeted for anything he has done but because of who he is and what he believes.

"While I like and respect Senator Leftwich a lot, in fact I consider her to be a very competent and capable individual, I never offered or gave her anything to withdraw as a candidate in last year's election," said Terrill. "I am 100 percent innocent of the charges which are absolutely, totally and completely without any factual or legal merit."

Terrill went on to say that he has confidence and faith in the system that he will be fully exonerated and ultimately vindicated.

Terrill's attorney had nothing to say to reporters.

Former Senator Debbe Leftwich refrained from making any comments. Her attorney Robert McCampbell did make a statement to reporters about his client being innocent of the charges against her and brought up many examples of good things she did for the people of Oklahoma while she was a lawmaker.

"She's had an outstanding career in the Oklahoma Senate she served for six years and has been a tireless advocate for Oklahoma a tireless advocate particularly for disadvantaged Oklahomans," McCampbell said.

On the charges, McCampbell said he and his client are fully confident that she is going to be found 100 percent innocent.

"Senator Leftwich has not done anything wrong and we welcome this opportunity to go to court and use the legal process to get this before a judge and get this decided," McCampbell said.

The Oklahoma County District Attorney charged both of them with bribery and accepting a bribe in an alleged plan to create a position for Leftwich at the state Medical Examiner's office.

Both Terrill and Leftwich have publicly denied any wrong-doing. Their attorneys said they're looking forward to their day in court.

If convicted, Terrill and Leftwich could each face up to two years in prison and a $1,000 fine.

Leftwich and Terrill are free on a $2,000 bond.

More:

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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