State of Oklahoma's

Opening Statement

Craig D. Corgan, District Attorney, appears on behalf of the State of Oklahoma.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. As Judge Lanning has told you, this is the portion of the trial that's known as the opening statement. This is the time or the opportunity when I, as the state's attorney, get to kind of give you, if you will, a road map and attempt to prepare you and try to give you some highlights of what I anticipate the evidence will be in this case as the state proves to you that the defendant did, in fact, murder his wife. Now, obviously I can't go into every piece of evidence at this time, but I will try to acquaint you and aware you, prepare you for what you might anticipate.

Please remember, and we've said this over and over again, that nothing the attorneys say is evidence, and you should not take my comments or the other attorney's comments in that manner, but rely on the evidence presented to you. So, of course, this is not evidence, but a preview of what you might expect.

Now, in this case there had been filed what's know as an Information. Again, the Information is not evidence, but the Information is simply the means by which we put before you the facts, the issues that you, this jury in this case, will decide.

At this time, I will read to you the Information that's been filed in this case as is required by law.

"Information, State of Oklahoma versus Steve Lee Allen, In the District Court of Washington County, Oklahoma, Number CRF-90-239. In the name and by the authority of the State of Oklahoma, now come Craig D. Corgan, the duly qualified and acting district attorney, in and for the Eleventh Judicial District, for the Sate of Oklahoma, and gives the District Court of Washington County, to know and to be informed that Steven Lee Allen, did in Washington County, and in the State of Oklahoma, on or about the 11th day of June, in the year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred and ninety, and anterior to the presentment hereof, commit the crime of Murder in the First Degree, 21 O.S. Section 701.7; in the manner and form as follows: That is to say the said defendant, Steve Lee Allen, in the county and state aforesaid, did unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously, without authority of law, and with malice aforethought, affect the death of one Sandra Jo Allen, a human being, and did then and there kill one Sandra Jo Allen by means of beating her about the head, causing mortal wounds in the body of the said Sandra Jo Allen, from which mortal wounds the same Sandra Jo Allen did languish and die, and did then and there commit the crime of Murder in the First Degree, contrary to the form of the statutes, in such cases made and provided and against the piece and dignity of the state. Craig D. Corgan, District Attorney, by Craig D. Corgan, District Attorney."

Ladies and gentlemen, to this Information the defendant has entered a plea of not guilty. By entering that pleas of not guilty, these issues then are put into question, these facts are put into issue, the facts that you will decide in this case.

Let me now visit with you for a few minutes about some of the evidence that the state will present to you in proving this charge. Now, as you know, the defendant is charged with the murder of his wife, Sandra Jo Allen. The evidence will show that Mrs. Allen died as a result of multiple blunt head injuries. The evidence will show that her head and primarily to the right side of the head was beaten very badly; that in the area that se was found that there was blood all around the area, not only where her body was but in the immediate area, the room which she was found.

The evidence will show that law enforcement first became aware of the injuries, what had happened to Mrs. Allen, somewhere around ten p.m. on the evening of June the 11th, 1990.

The evidence will show that Terri Lippert, a dispatcher with the Bartlesville Police Department, received a 911 phone call from a man. The evidence will show later on that this man was the husband of the victim, the defendant, Stephen Lee Allen.

The evidence will show that in the call Mr. Allen, the defendant, told the dispatcher that he drove into the driveway, and that as he drove into his driveway his headlights flashed upon a person who was heading south and then upon apparently seeing him, changed directions and headed on north.

The evidence will show that at that time the defendant, Mr. Allen, told the dispatcher that his son was out in the car. The evidence will show that he also told the dispatcher that his house had been broke into, his wife had been beat, and that he needed an ambulance.

The evidence will show that shortly thereafter that as the call come in Dispatcher Lippert immediately took action to get law enforcement there; that she immediately dispatched an officer to the scene. The evidence will show that the first officer arriving on the scene was Officer Darrell Grayson.

The evidence will show that also during the course of the call that Ms. Lippert had occasion to dispatch the ambulance service as well as the fire department, and as we talk with Ms. Lippert, in her testimony she will explain why and how we got those various entities involved.

The evidence will show that shortly after Officer Grayson arrived a backup officer arrived, that being Lieutenant Gus Davis, and that there was a very short interval there between the arrival of Officer Grayson and the arrival of Lieutenant Grayson(sic).

The evidence will show that when Lieutenant--Excuse me. When Officer Grayson arrived that he had contact with the defendant somewhere outside in the driveway area and that he, at either that time or sometime later, noticed the defendant's person and noticed at that time that the defendant was covered with blood and that his body appeared to be very sweaty, that his clothes were soaked with perspiration.

The evidence will show that Officer Grayson attempted to get a description of the suspect from the defendant. The defendant was not able to provide him with that information.

The evidence will show that Officer Grayson checked the body of the victim, Sandra Allen, as she lie there on the floor in her blood and that he could not detect any type of pulse, any indication to him that she was, in fact, still alive.

The evidence will show that that defendant did, in fact, report to Mr. Grayson about seeing this person outside; that he saw some type of person outside, but related later that he saw this person who had been outside inside.

The evidence will show that when Lieutenant Davis arrived that he went to the body of the victim. At that point he was able to detect, he was able to find a pulse in the victim indicating to him that she was alive at that point.

The evidence will show that at that point, somewhere in that time frame, Lieutenant Davis talked to the defendant and there was some conversation or exchange about the den area, a room directly adjacent to where Mrs. Allen was found. The evidence will show that Lieutenant Davis then went into this den area and made some observations. One of those being that there was a what I'll call a patio type door with window panes in it, and that he made an observation that one of those window pains was broken and that the door was partially open.

The evidence will also show that in addition to this patio wood frame door with the glass pains in it there was a storm type door leading to the outside. So, in other words, to come in from the patio you would go through the storm door and then through this other door.

The evidence will show that Lieutenant Davis then checked this door and he found it to be locked from the inside.

The evidence will show that Lieutenant Davis did some checking tin the house to determine if, in fact, there were some type of suspect or intruder in the house and found that there was no else in the house.

Lieutenant Davis will tell you about how later on then he was involved in a search of the area around the Allen household, outside, and that he made a search of the patio area there to see if he could determine any spots of blood or anything to indicate that a suspect or a perpetrator had fled in that manner. The evidence will show that as he did that he found nothing to so indicate.

The evidence will show that Officer Davis, Lieutenant Davis, talked with the defendant. Again could not give him any type of suspect description but basically the story of the light shining and seeing someone out there.

Now, what's also significant in addition to what the defendant told law enforcement at that time is what he did not tell them but told law enforcement later. And the evidence shows that later on that the defendant would, in fact, tell law enforcement that prior to making the 911 phone call he was in the process of wiping off his hands, cleaning his hands up so that he could make a call. the evidence will show that, according to the defendant, as he did that he saw a hammer, a hammer that he described as a small tack hammer' that he picked the hammer out of frustration and slammed it down upon the counter there in the room next to where his wife lay dying; that he realized at that point he had blood on him, he had blood on the hammer. So at that point he took the towels that he had used to wipe off his hands, he took the hammer that he had just slammed down, according to him, in frustration, and took those articles up into the attic and hid them, hiding them prior to calling for help, summoning assistance for his wife. Hiding those things as his young son remained out in his automobile in the driveway where he had seen this perpetrator.

The evidence will show that after ambulance personnel, fire personnel administered whatever aid they could to the victim, Mrs. Allen, that she was then taken to Jane Phillips Memorial Hospital; that shortly thereafter the defendant went out there. One of the neighbor ladies, I believe Kay Herring, took the defendant out there.

The evidence will show that upon arrival at the hospital the defendant's first question, first concern to medical people who met him there, was is she talking. Tanya Crossman with the hospital will relate to you that conversation, what she observed and what happened at that time.

The evidence will also show that on Friday, the Friday following the Monday that Mrs. Allen was killed, that she was buried, and that neighbor people attended the funeral. And after the funeral one of the neighbor people, Mr. Bob Herring, had contact with the defendant. Went up, spoke with him after the funeral. They consoled each other, they visited. And in so doing the defendant said something to the effect, Bob, I really love Sandra. I don't know if I killed her or not. You have to tell the truth.

The evidence will show that on the evening of June the 11th, 1990, after Mrs. Allen had been taken to the hospital, that law enforcement continued its investigation. Had various patrol officers in the area combing the fields, checking with neighbors attempting to find a intruder, a perpetrator. The evidence will show that the defendant was contacted, asked permission to further search his home, further search his automobiles. That he consented to that and that law enforcement then conducted a search of the home, took various items into their custody that were later submitted to the laboratory for analysis.

During that search the evidence will show that apparently the struggle, whatever when on, was confined to two areas, that being the what I'll call dining area adjacent to the kitchen and then the den area adjacent to that. That law enforcement found nothing else amiss in the home, noting amiss in the back bedrooms. The evidence will show that Mrs. Allen's purse was there apparently untouched. Nothing apparently missing from that. That other things that a burglar might easily take were there in the home.

The evidence will show that a lot of neighborhood activity going on that evening, that evening of June the 11th, 1990. Neighbors visiting with neighbors. Neighbors out doing yard work. People coming by to check the mail for vacationing neighbors. Kids getting ready to go on scout functions. Those type things. Lots of activity. Lot's going on in the neighborhood, but only the defendant saw or heard anything out of the ordinary.

Now, as I told you, various items were taken during the search and submitted to the O.S.B.I. for analysis, and I'd like to talk to you just about a few of those. Two of the times that were referred to the lab for analysis would be the paper towels and the hammer that I told you about that was hidden in the attic. The evidence will show that after receiving the information about the hammer law enforcement did, in fact, go to the attic. They found paper towels and they found a hammer.

The evidence will show that analysis of the hammer showed--let me start with the paper towels. The evidence will show that upon examination of the paper towels, laboratory people basically determined two things. One, that there was in fact human blood on those paper towels, that being Type O, that being the same blood as the victim in this case, Sandra Allen. And, two, that there were various head hairs in those towels, and those head hairs, too, were consistent with the head hairs of the victim, Sandra Allen.

Let's talk for a minute about the hammer. The evidence will show that initially the hammer was submitted to Ms. Lynette Lee a criminalist with the O.S.B.I. in Tahlequah; that she examined the hammer and through some testing that she did, found the presence of blood but that she could not definitely type it. As far as she could go would be to say that it showed Antigen H activity, and she'll further explain to you that that Antigen H activity is consistent with someone having O type blood.

The evidence will show that later on that same hammer was submitted to Mr. Doug Perkins with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation in Oklahoma City. That he performed further testing on the hammer; that he administered a substance called luminol to the handle of the hammer. And he'll tell you that luminol is a substance used to detect small quantities of blood, blood that cannot be seen in many instances by the naked eye, and that he found luminol activity consistent with blood having been on the handle of that hammer.

He'll also tell you that upon examination of the hammer that he found some small pieces of glass. That he removed theses pieces of glass from the hammer and submitted those to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation in Tahlequah for analysis. the evidence will show that Mr. Dennis Reimer with the O.S.B.I. took those glass fragments and compared them with a know glass sample taken from that broken pane of glass that I told you about, than pane of glass there in what I'll call the wooden patio door. That upon examination of those glass fragments from the hammer and examination of the known glass sample from the door, he found those pieces of glass to be consistent and that they could in fact have come from the same source.

The evidence will show that although on its face the Allen family appeared to be all American type family, happy family with three small children, the evidence will show that the defendant, Mr. Allen, had in the past been unfaithful to his wife, had been unfaithful to his marriage, and was distressed and unhappy about various things in his marriage at that time.

The evidence will show that law enforcement received several items for analysis that the defendant had on that night. those being his shirt, his shorts, gym type shorts that he had on, and some tennis shoes as well as his watch. the evidence will show that those items were submitted to the lab for analysis, and upon analysis of those items it was determined that the shirt, the shoes and the watch exhibited blood spatter, and more specifically exhibited what is know as medium blood spatter.

The evidence will show that medium blood spatter is associated with blunt trauma force. The evidence will show that that medium velocity spatter would also be consistent with those articles of clothing, the watch, having been present when trauma force was inflicted upon the victim in this case, Sandra Allen.

So, ladies and gentlemen, with that evidence and additional evidence that I have not gone into, the state will prove to you that the defendant did murder his wife, Sandra Allen. Thank you."

The information contained on this pages was taken from the District Court in and for Washington County, State of Oklahoma, Transcript of Jury Trial Proceedings, 7/22/91 and 7/24/91, volume I, page 6.

lh1998-99, 2000