Teenager waives preliminary hearing in Sallisaw shooting spree

SALLISAW, Okla. (AP) -- A Sallisaw teenager accused in a shooting rampage that left two people dead and eight injured waived his right to a preliminary hearing Tuesday.<br><br>Prosecutors were scheduled

Tuesday, September 2nd 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

SALLISAW, Okla. (AP) -- A Sallisaw teenager accused in a shooting rampage that left two people dead and eight injured waived his right to a preliminary hearing Tuesday.

Prosecutors were scheduled to present their case against Daniel Hawke Fears' Tuesday morning before Special District Judge Dennis Sprouse in Sequoyah County.

But District Attorney Richard Gray said last week that Fears' attorneys had told him they would tell the judge that they would forgo the proceeding.

Fears' Tulsa attorney, Clark Brewster, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Tuesday after the decision was made official.

Fears, 18, faces two counts of first-degree murder and 16 other felonies for the Oct. 27 shooting spree that began in Sallisaw and continued east along U.S. 64, claiming victims in a neighborhood, at a car dealership, a statuary shop and in passing cars.

The teenager allegedly began shooting with a 20-gauge shotgun after Gregory Caughman chastised him for driving recklessly where children were playing.

Patsy Wells, 61, of Sallisaw, and Reba Spangler, 68, of Ft. Smith, Ark., were killed. Wells' husband Elvie Gene Wells, Caughman and his 2-year-old daughter, Jimmy Nunn, Ernest and Sharon McMahon, Matthew Tabor and Linda Dutton were injured.

Fears was arrested after crashing his pickup near a police roadblock.

Doctors hired by the defense have said Fears has a psychotic personality and believes he is influenced by extraterrestrials.

He has been taking medication and was found competent to stand trial.