Teen ordered to stand trial as adult

CLAREMORE, Okla. (AP) -- A Rogers County judge has ordered a teen-ager to stand trial as an adult in the August shooting death of a reserve deputy. <br><br>Slint K. Tate, 17, is charged with first-degree

Tuesday, April 18th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

CLAREMORE, Okla. (AP) -- A Rogers County judge has ordered a teen-ager to stand trial as an adult in the August shooting death of a reserve deputy.

Slint K. Tate, 17, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Vernie Milford Roberts, 65. Roberts, a Delaware County reserve deputy, was shot after a scuffle over his revolver while transporting Tate from Jay to the Tulsa Juvenile Detention Center.

Tate, of Fairland, was 16 at the time.

Special Judge Joe Smith ordered Monday that Tate be held without bail. He rejected separate reverse certification motions filed by the defendant, asking that he be tried as a juvenile or as a youthful offender.

Tate, who also was ordered to face trial on a charge of larceny of a motor vehicle, is scheduled for a district court arraignment on May 11, Smith said.

Authorities say that while Tate was being transferred, he grabbed Roberts' wife, Betty, around the neck from behind and told her husband to stop the car and give him the key to his leg irons. Roberts stopped the vehicle but reportedly refused to hand over the key.

Roberts was trying to handcuff Tate when the teen overpowered him, taking the deputy's .38-caliber handgun and shooting him with it, authorities said. The shooting occurred on U.S. 412 near Inola in Rogers County.