Crucial Evidence Tampered With, Say Attorneys Of Teen Charged With Parents Murder

Attorneys for a teenager accused of murdering five members of his family say police mishandled evidence in the case.

1/9/2018 Related Story: Hearing Scheduled For BA Teen Charged With Parents Murder

Attorneys for Michael Bever say a Broken Arrow detective's actions could keep Bever from getting a fair trial.

Attorneys, on both sides, are saying they haven't been given the evidence needed to build their cases for the trial set in April.

What's unusual here is that Bever's attorneys said there's crucial evidence that's not only being kept from them, but that's been tampered with.

Tulsa County public defender Corbin Brewster said they've been trying to get their hands on important evidence since 2015.

"Every defendant, even Michael Bever, even defendants charged with heinous crimes deserve a fair trial, deserve to put a defense on," said Brewster. 

Brewster said they just learned there's potentially video from inside the Bever's home, plus several hard drives, computers, and a router missing.

"We, last month, discovered there was evidence that went missing in the case that could be highly relevant at trial," Brewster said. 

Brewster said Broken Arrow Police Detective Gayla Adcock took those items from an auction house without a search warrant, and without reporting it. Adcock is currently on suspension.

"Had we not been diligently defending the case, we may have never discovered this stuff," said Brewster. 

Now, Brewster wants to see what communication has been going on between BAPD and the District Attorney's office.

"If there are communications there, we should get them. Our community should know whether there was a coordination," said Brewster. 

Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler said any suggestion his office was involved, is "offensive."

"There's nothing I would love more as a prosecutor than to have a video of what went on in the Bever house," said Kunzweiler, "that's the last thing a prosecutor would want to do, is to hide evidence that's going to make my case."

Officers arrested one man, and are looking for a woman who may also be involved.

News On 6 talked to the Broken Arrow City Attorney and she said there are some irregularities in how evidence has been handled, but that the Broken Arrow Police Department is an agency of integrity and they will continue looking into these issues.