Fatal shooting was OK by state law, attorney asserts
By DEON HAMPTON World Staff Writer
9/28/2007
A retired security guard killed a man who reportedly threatened him in a parking lot after a road-rage incident.
The attorney for a retired security guard who is charged with first-degree manslaughter said Thursday that his client was justified when he fatally shot a man during a road-rage dispute.
Larry Johnson, a defense lawyer representing Kenneth Ray Gumm, 67, said his client will turn himself in to Tulsa police at 9 a.m. Friday.
The charge, filed Wednesday by Tulsa County District Attorney Tim Harris, stems from a June 10 altercation that ended with Gumm, who is CLEET-certified and has a concealed-carry license, shooting Dale Turney, 47, once in the chest.
An autopsy report shows that Turney's blood-alcohol level was 0.08 -- meaning he was legally too drunk to drive -- and that he had methamphetamine in his system.
Harris filed the charge against Gumm at the conclusion of an investigation in which he interviewed witnesses, looked at photographs and researched toxicology reports.
Unlike Johnson, Harris said Gumm's actions were not justified and aren't protected under Oklahoma law.
The fact that Turney pushed Gumm was not enough to trigger the Oklahoma "Stand Your Ground" law's authorization for an assaulted person to "meet force with force," Harris said.
"Pushing someone is barely an assault and battery," he said.
The Stand Your Ground law, which went into effect Nov. 1, allows people to use deadly force under certain conditions in which they have "a reasonable fear of imminent peril of death or great bodily harm," according to the state statute.
If Turney had been holding a gun or knife, the situation would have been different, Harris said.
Johnson disputes this claim, citing parts of the Stand Your Ground law that grant immunity from criminal prosecution and civil action for using such deadly force.
He also referenced another section of the statute that says law enforcement officials may not arrest someone for using force unless probable cause exists that the force used was unlawful.
"The police interviewed Gumm following the incident and let him go," Johnson said.
"There's no question that he is innocent," he added.
According to a police affidavit, the confrontation began when Turney received a call from a friend, Charles Geltz, who asked for a ride home from a Brookside bar because he was too drunk to drive.
Lettie Geltz, Charles Geltz's mother, disputes these claims, saying her son wasn't drunk and that Turney had called her son -- not the other way around.
If her son was drunk, "the police would have arrested him after he filled out his incident statement," she said.
Turney picked up Charles Geltz, and as Turney was driving north on Riverside Drive, Gumm pulled out in front of him at 26th Street, according to the affidavit.
Turney followed Gumm for seven blocks before Gumm turned into a River Parks parking lot near 19th Street, the document says.
After Gumm parked, Turney parked his car behind him, blocking Gumm's vehicle, according to the affidavit.
Turney then walked toward Gumm, who got out of his car holding his .38-caliber Smith and Wesson revolver, the affidavit says.
Gumm described Turney as being in a rage and told police that Turney said, "You're history," according to the affidavit.
Johnson said his client backed away from Turney, walking twice around his car with the revolver pointed at Turney, who followed him around the car and pushed him before the shooting.
When you make a statement such as "You're history," that's a threat, Johnson said Thursday.
Kenneth E. Gumm, 42, said his father acted in self-defense but didn't intend to kill Turney.
"I would have reacted the same way," the son said. "My father isn't a violent person."
