Group Seeks Impeachment Of Judges

SALLISAW, Okla. (AP) _ A victim's group says three judges on the state Court of Criminal Appeals who voted to overturn the conviction of a man who killed two people and shot eight others should be

Wednesday, February 21st 2007, 5:23 am

By: News On 6

SALLISAW, Okla. (AP) _ A victim's group says three judges on the state Court of Criminal Appeals who voted to overturn the conviction of a man who killed two people and shot eight others should be impeached.

The group United Victims wants judges Charles Chapel, Charles Johnson and David Lewis impeached.

The group believes the judges should not have denied Sequoyah County District Court an opportunity to review the case of Daniel Hawke Fears after the judges overturned his conviction.

Fears was convicted of two first-degree murder counts, eight counts of shooting with intent to kill and seven other weapons counts following a 2002 shooting spree in the Sallisaw area.

Last July, the appeals court, by a 3-to-2 vote, reversed the guilty verdict and life without parole sentence of Fears and changed it to not guilty by reason of insanity.

Last month, the court affirmed its decision and denied a request by Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson that the case go back to a district court jury.

Fears now is at a state mental facility in Vinita.