Kepler Attorney Files Motion For Gun Discovery In Next Murder Trial

A former Tulsa police officer was denied a new trial on his two misdemeanor convictions of recklessly handling a gun.

Shannon Kepler's attorney wanted the charges consolidated, meaning Kepler would spend six months in jail rather than a year, but, the judge disagreed.

Thursday, Kepler's team filed another motion, focusing on the legal battles ahead.

Both sides said the ruling was not unexpected and it's not that big of deal.

But, what they are both focused on now, is the new murder trial coming up in February and the evidence that will be allowed at that trial and the evidence that will not.

Kepler's first jury trial in the murder of his daughter's boyfriend, Jeremey Lake, ended with a hung jury.

The new motion asks the judge to let the next jury know a janitor found a gun in a trashcan inside interview room two at police headquarters within two days after Lisa Kepler had been interviewed by police in the same room.

The motion says Kepler identified the gun found in the trash as the one Lake pointed at him the night of the shooting. Kepler told the first jury he shot Lake in self-defense; police said they never found a gun on Lake at the scene.

Kepler's attorney said the gun found in the trash had been wiped clean of prints and DNA. He argues the judge should allow the jury to hear about it in order to give Kepler a fair defense.

"She's hiding or she's allowing the state to hide that somebody brought a gun to a gunfight," said Kepler’s attorney, Richard O’Carroll.

However, after a lengthy hearing, the judge ruled the gun would not be admissible in the first trial. The district attorney argued there was nothing to tie the gun found in the trash to the Lake case, other than speculation by the defense.

The DA pointed out lots of people associated with other cases had been interviewed in that same room around the same time.

Tulsa County DA Steve Kunzweiler said, "Just because there's some gun found over at detective division doesn't mean that now you get to infer somehow that gun was connected with this particular case."

Kepler will remain out on bond until his new murder trial in February.

The judge told attorneys to get all their motions in about a month before that.