OK - Five Bever family members slain in their Broken Arrow home, 22 July 2015 *Guilty*

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Judge denies defense request to recuse prosecutor from Michael Bever quintuple murder case

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/courts/judge-denies-defense-request-to-recuse-prosecutor-from-michael-bever/article_9bf2b27a-d953-5d9a-b89e-6846a9111ba6.html

The judge presiding over Michael Bever’s quintuple murder trial overruled a defense request to have an assistant prosecutor recused from the case.

The ruling followed a lengthy hearing on Tuesday during which the prosecutor and a former police detective testified for the first time about their actions related to the investigation.

District Judge Sharon Holmes said she would not preclude Assistant District Attorney Sarah McAmis from being a part of the prosecution team when Bever’s trial begins Monday, deciding she found no significant correlation between her actions on the case and those of former Broken Arrow Police Detective Gayla Adcock, who resigned effective March 1 amid an internal affairs proceeding about her work on the investigation.

 

[watergirl62]

Judge denies defense request to recuse prosecutor from Michael Bever quintuple murder case

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/courts/judge-denies-defense-request-to-recuse-prosecutor-from-michael-bever/article_9bf2b27a-d953-5d9a-b89e-6846a9111ba6.html

McAmis said she had no specific knowledge of Adcock’s visit to the auction house, telling Brewster that Adcock “gave multiple different conflicting statements” in her internal affairs inquiry about why she did so and therefore shouldn’t automatically have her word taken at face value.

She also said she agreed with an Internal Affairs report about Adcock’s behavior on the Bever case that found she “grossly mishandled evidence,” but asserted Adcock’s actions do not mean Michael Bever is not guilty of murder.


I can certainly see why the defense tried to recuse her, but all this evidence mishandling is... unfortunate at best. [emoji17]

 

[HoneyWest]

Jury selection began today for Michael Bever's trial.

Neighbors remember Bever killings on the eve of a new trial

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/courts/neighbors-remember-the-bever-killings-on-the-eve-of-a/article_b926a66b-08a2-51d5-93e3-0eaa76996b43.html

Robert, the older brother pleaded guilty and is serving his LWOP sentence.

 

[HoneyWest]

Here's a new piece of information the surviving sister did not reveal to authorities before this month:

Prosecutor: Brothers accused in Bever family slayings had asked surviving sister to participate

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/courts/prosecutor-brothers-accused-in-bever-family-slayings-tried-to-have/article_6ae13cef-4c14-54c9-bf7e-13e0fc46c957.html

Also - in a Motion for Sanctions and other Relief filed 4/4/18, gives some background into the Bever family. The parents married when David was 24 and April was 15. April dropped out of 8th grade to marry David. Despite not having a high school education, April home schooled all 7 of her children, including Michael. The program she was using was unaccredited and poorly supervised, resulting in Michael being undereducated and immature at 16.

Also included in the Motion is information that the father, David had lost his job and was unemployed. Despite financial hardship, he regularly gambled at casinos and lost. He had a quick temper and took it out on the kids.

There's much more to read but it looks like the defense is going to be isolation, physical and mental abuse at the least. To read the Motion, go to
https://www.oscn.net/dockets/Search.aspx

Search Michael Bever's name, look in Tulsa County. The filing dates are in order, most recent at bottom.

 

[HoneyWest]

Jury to be seated this afternoon:

https://twitter.com/TiffanyAlaniz/status/987037212071079942

No phones or electronics allowed in courtroom, no live tweeting:

https://twitter.com/TiffanyAlaniz/status/987037679845105664

The surviving sister will be one of the first witnesses, testifying via closed circuit from a different location:

https://twitter.com/TiffanyAlaniz/status/987038473369636865

 

[HoneyWest]

Opening statements today - Surviving sister expected to testify this afternoon:

http://www.newson6.com/story/38005426/surviving-bever-sister-expected-to-testify-in-brothers-murder-trial

 

[Curious Me]

HoneyWest, thank you for keeping us updated and posting some very informative news articles. This gives us an opportunity to understand a bit more about how this tragedy happened.

My thoughts and prayers are with the sister testifying.

 

[HoneyWest]

HoneyWest, thank you for keeping us updated and posting some very informative news articles. This gives us an opportunity to understand a bit more about how this tragedy happened.

My thoughts and prayers are with the sister testifying.

No problem! I'm following the trial closely, so I'll keep posting updates. I did read that CB (sister) did an amazing job testifying today. Local reporters are talking about how strong she was and that she's doing great. She goes to public school now and was able to fall in with the other kids her age. She just turned 16 and she got her driver's license, she's on the school track team.

Also, she and the baby have been adopted by the same woman, so they are together with the same adoptive mom.

Here is a video by one of our local reporters describing court today. It's kind of a tear jerker, so have some kleenex handy.

https://www.facebook.com/taylornewcombnews/videos/1996084230608733/

 

[interestedincases]

I've been watching this one also all these years. So sad!

http://www.newson6.com/story/38015416/michael-bevers-murder-trial-resumes-monday

One of his surviving sisters took the stand Friday and spoke about the night her parents and three siblings were killed inside their Broken Arrow

She testified she was the first one attacked when another brother, Robert Bever, assaulted her. She told the court she thought her brothers were joking when they approached her a year earlier about the plan and asked if she wanted to join them.

 

[HoneyWest]

First responders testified today. (BA = Broken Arrow)

BA Police Officer Calls Bever Home Bloodiest Scene He's Ever Been To

http://www.newson6.com/story/38019891/broken-arrow-officer-describes-responding-to-bever-murder-scene

 

[Curious Me]

What do you make of Michael saying this to the officer? From the sound of it, and from what the sister said, Michael must've been inside the house attacking, maybe killing, some of the family members while the other brother Robert was outside trying to get the sister. So, it's a strange thing for Michael to say. Was he trying to act like he didn't take part in the killings?

What BS to say he hopes his family is okay! I think he knew only too well what he was taking part in with a year's worth of planning that they did. Both brothers would've gone on to kill more innocent people if they hadn't been stopped. Just my own opinion, but I'm not sure I'd give Michael any special considerations in sentencing.

The officer recalled a conversation he had with Michael Bever once he was in custody.

Michael: "I hope they're okay."
Officer: "You hope who is okay?"
Michael: "The people in the house."
Officer: "Whose house?"
Michael: "Mine."
Officer: "Who are they to you?"
Michael: "My family."

BA Police Officer Calls Bever Home Bloodiest Scene He's Ever Been To
Posted: Apr 23, 2018 10:33 AM PDT Updated: Apr 23, 2018 3:06 PM PDT
http://www.newson6.com/story/380198...er-describes-responding-to-bever-murder-scene

 

[Curious Me]

How do you even think about killing your own innocent, trusting little brothers and sisters? One of the brothers spent the day with his siblings. Taken over by evil it seems with no conscious thought to not do it.

They also found a locked bathroom door and when it was opened they found two more children killed.

The jury also heard a 911 call that came from the home where a child could be heard whispering for help, saying his brother was attacking the family. You could hear the child whisper “please don’t murder me,” before a different voice got on the phone, said “hello” then disconnects.

http://www.newson6.com/story/380198...er-describes-responding-to-bever-murder-scene

 

[HoneyWest]

What do you make of Michael saying this to the officer? From the sound of it, and from what the sister said, Michael must've been inside the house attacking, maybe killing, some of the family members while the other brother Robert was outside trying to get the sister. So, it's a strange thing for Michael to say. Was he trying to act like he didn't take part in the killings?

What BS to say he hopes his family is okay! I think he knew only too well what he was taking part in with a year's worth of planning that they did. Both brothers would've gone on to kill more innocent people if they hadn't been stopped. Just my own opinion, but I'm not sure I'd give Michael any special considerations in sentencing.




BA Police Officer Calls Bever Home Bloodiest Scene He's Ever Been To
Posted: Apr 23, 2018 10:33 AM PDT Updated: Apr 23, 2018 3:06 PM PDT
http://www.newson6.com/story/380198...er-describes-responding-to-bever-murder-scene

I don't know what to think of that exchange with the officer. Could he be trying to act like the "good" boy by hoping everyone is OK? Showing concern for the victims, maybe thinking he wouldn't get into as much trouble? Or, could he really be so immature and socially stunted that he actually does not realize that what they did results in death? These two weren't exactly criminal masterminds, either. Their grand murder-spree plan was so unrealistic, I wonder how an 18 year old and a 16 year old thought they would ever pull it off.

Robert, the older brother is on the witness list. I'm really curious about what he has to say.

 

[HoneyWest]

Bever testimony halts while attorneys argue over crime-scene photos to show jurors

http://www.tulsaworld.com/homepagelatest/bever-defense-attorney-objects-to-number-of-crime-scene-photos/article_16249102-c462-5688-81f0-8b8e674d4d55.html

The judge halted testimony Tuesday afternoon while Michael Bever’s defense team objected to the sheer volume of bloody crime-scene photos that prosecutors want to show the jury in the ongoing quintuple murder trial.

“They want to bombard the jury with dozens if not hundreds of bloody photos,” said Chief Public Defender Corbin Brewster. “They are intended to overwhelm the jury with sympathy and overwhelm the jury with shock value.”

Assistant District Attorney Sarah McAmis insisted that it would take a lot of photos to demonstrate the “breadth and depth of the crime,” which left several rooms of the house covered in blood.

 

[Curious Me]

My thoughts and prayers go out to those jurors for their continued strength of mind to get through this trial and come to the correct verdict. I worry they will never be able to forget those evidence crime photos. I find it very upsetting to visualize the young siblings and Mom running for their lives and absolutely terrified.

Understandably, the Prosecution needs to prove Michael took part in the attacks and killings. I guess Michael's defense attorney wants to blame Robert for everything and claim Michael has no blood on his hands. MOO, he does. Wasn't he the one that the sister said was kind of eager to start the killing spree when she went to their bedroom to tell them Mom said do the dishes? I don't know how they managed to don helmets and vests at some point after that, but apparently they did.

“It’s not the state of Oklahoma’s fault that there are so many victims over such a large area of the home,” McAmis said. She told Holmes the defense team’s prevailing approach is to present evidence that “it was all Robert,” but that theory is belied by what she said was the impossibility a single person could cause the “carnage, destruction and blood” shown in the proposed photographs.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/homepagel...cle_16249102-c462-5688-81f0-8b8e674d4d55.html

 

[Curious Me]

They were wearing their protective gear. The brothers might have gotten away, I guess, if the little brother hadn't managed to call 911 before he was killed??? Yes, they had some very detailed and bizarre plans I call "evil delusions" that were far-fetched. Coffins to hide the bodies in, but then I think they were going to take off driving the family vehicle?

“He appeared to shift his hip in a manner that might be getting up to run or to get something he was lying on,” Baldwin told Assistant District Attorney Julie Doss of Michael’s actions. As a result, the officer said he commanded his K-9, “Jireh,” to “engage.”

Michael’s protective vest fell away from him, and the dog struck again, biting his right shoulder and allowing officers to take him into custody, Baldwin said. He also testified that once the brothers — each also using helmets — were walked out of the dry creek bed, he noticed a knife with “a yellowish-green handle” on the ground and later identified that item in an evidence photograph.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/homepagel...cle_16249102-c462-5688-81f0-8b8e674d4d55.html

 

[Curious Me]

Yes, HoneyWest, I wonder what the older brother Robert is going to say.

Thoughts of this case will haunt me for many years. The news video about the sister's testimony plus the reporter's comments within the news article definitely make it sound like Michael was the one that killed the younger siblings.

Surviving Bever Sister Testifies In Brother's Murder Trial
http://www.newson6.com/story/380054...-expected-to-testify-in-brothers-murder-trial

Lori Fullbright‏ @LoriFullbright
DA says when 12 year old Daniel called 911; he can be heard saying, “Don’t Murder me. “ with screams in background, then Michael Bever hung up the phone.
11:37 AM - 20 Apr 2018

Lori Fullbright @LoriFullbright
DA says Michael tricked younger siblings who had locked themselves in bathroom, to open the door, then he stabbed them.
11:38 AM - Apr 20, 2018

 

[HoneyWest]

Hospitalized sister accused '2 brothers' in Bever killings, nurse testifies

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/courts/hospitalized-sister-accused-brothers-in-bever-killings-nurse-testifies/article_e9e6f539-b49d-5766-a908-166175da3736.html

Unable to talk with a ventilator tube down her throat, Michael Bever’s critically injured sister wrote a note to say “two brothers” “did this to me,” an intensive-care nurse testified Wednesday during his quintuple murder trial.

Identified in court by the initials C.B., the then-13-year-old sister remained in critical and unstable condition a day after her throat had been slashed and her stomach ripped open during a brutal 2015 knife attack that killed both of her parents and three of her siblings, nurse Jill Sledge told the court.

Video from local reporter Taylor Newcomb:

Prosecutors finally showed jurors some physical evidence, including one of the knives found on Michael when he was arrested. Here’s what happened.

Part 1: https://www.facebook.com/taylornewcombnews/videos/1998185440398612/?hc_ref=ARS3I38XaegGwsa_GKdvc5Pux9z-82Aj7IcFsKhpt-3XDjFUG1YM-nBYZ0yoXHgLdiU

Part 2:
https://www.facebook.com/taylornewcombnews/videos/1998189570398199/

 

[HoneyWest]

Yes, HoneyWest, I wonder what the older brother Robert is going to say.

Thoughts of this case will haunt me for many years. The news video about the sister's testimony plus the reporter's comments within the news article definitely make it sound like Michael was the one that killed the younger siblings.

Surviving Bever Sister Testifies In Brother's Murder Trial
http://www.newson6.com/story/380054...-expected-to-testify-in-brothers-murder-trial

I hear you, it's haunting me now. I'm especially shocked at how horribly brutal the mother's attack was. She did fight back and she was still alive when the first police officers arrived, but died within a few minutes of their arrival.

All accounts of Robert's demeanor are that he was not bothered, he confessed everything, including their master plan to become serial killers and smiled and laughed several times while talking with police. Michael wasn't as happy...he was vomiting and getting upset on and off.

Michael is guilty. Maybe he wasn't as gung-ho about it as his brother was, but he committed murder. I keep hoping we'll hear some reason as to why they did this, but we may get through the entire trial and still have no answer to that.

 

[Curious Me]

Just more thoughts running through my mind as I try to understand this nightmare.

I think knowing that the mother sent the sister to tell the brothers they still had to do the dishes reveals how normal things appeared in the household that night. Mrs. Bever never expected her sons in helmets and attack gear, to not do the dishes, but instead be out to kill her - their own mother - and to kill the rest of the family!

Robert seemed to have enjoyed it as he looked so crazy happy in the after mug shot photo. But the sister said it was Michael who talked everyday about his serial killer fascination. Perhaps the actual experience of slaughtering his family wasn't as enjoyable as he imagined. It could be that getting caught was too much reality.

Sister tried to warn parents. She knew it was not just normal boy stuff. I do wish the parents took the signs more seriously because I do think these boys needed intervention and professional help. The evil was brewing and plans were being made.