Lawyers in case against officers accused of shooting, killing Quadry Sanders meet in court

LAWTON, Okla. (KSWO) - The attorney for two former Lawton police officers was back in court Thursday morning in an attempt to remove Judge Christine Galbreath from the case due to her time at the District Attorney’s office.

The attorney for Nathan Ronan and Robert Hinkle said the judge has the “appearance of impropriety” due to her time at the DA’s office and the possibility she saw video of the incident which wasn’t available to the public. He also said it doesn’t appear she voiced opposition to the decision to charge the pair, which could be interpreted as bias.

District Attorney Kyle Cabelka said she should not be removed from the case because the video of incident was available on Youtube and what he showed his staff was not that different from what anyone could see. He said it could be a bad precedent to say anyone who worked in a district attorney’s office before becoming a judge must recuse themselves from any case which may have been filed during their time there.

Judge Meadors, who’s tasked with deciding the fate of Galbreath’s recusal, listed several statues he plans to consider before issuing his decision, saying a ruling should be made within the next week.

If Meadors chooses to keep Judge Galbreath as the judge, the defense will have five days from the ruling to file an appeal with the state for the State Appeals Court to weigh in on the case.