McAlester Jail Housing High-Profile Inmate

Pittsburg County Sheriff Joel Kerns is having to make adjustments at the county jail to accommodate an inmate whose one-year prison term for raping a little girl has garnered national attention.

Sunday, June 21st 2009, 5:55 pm

By: News On 6

Associated Press

McALESTER, OK -- Pittsburg County Sheriff Joel Kerns is having to make adjustments at the county jail to accommodate an inmate whose one-year prison term for raping a little girl has garnered national attention.

Kerns says 64-year-old David Harold Earls has been isolated from the general population at the McAlester lockup, but he's not in solitary confinement. The sheriff says Earls is in a cell with other offenders charged with similar offense.

Earls pleaded no contest last month to first-degree rape and forcible sodomy for attacking a then 4-year-old McAlester girl.

In a plea deal with prosecutors, Earls was sentenced to 20 years in prison with 19 years suspended. That left him with a one-year term but he was given credit for time served and is scheduled to be released in September.

District Attorney Jim Bob Miller's office has been criticized for the deal and District Judge Thomas Bartheld has been scrutinized for accepting it.