DA, sheriff, family react to Bench dismissal

May 7—The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals overturned a murder charge and conviction as a result of the recent McGirt v. Oklahoma ruling against a suspect accused of killing a Velma teenager in 2012.

The decision of Miles Sterling Bench, 30, appeared before the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals Thursday where it was dismissed. Bench, however, has been charged federally with kidnapping resulting in death. Bench's murder case came after teenager Braylee Henry of Velma was found deceased in a pasture on Bench's grandparents' land and had suffered severe blunt force trauma. According to affidavits, Henry had gone to a local store, Teepee Totem, and never returned home. Upon searching the store, they found both Henry and Bench, who was supposed to be working at the store, gone.

In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court previously ruled that large swaths of eastern Oklahoma — in particular, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation lands — fall within Native American reservations.

Prosecutors said the ruling has altered criminal justice proceedings across eastern Oklahoma because crimes on reservation land involving defendants or victims who are tribal citizens must be prosecuted in federal or tribal courts. Those already convicted of crimes on Oklahoma's reservation lands, meanwhile, are appealing their convictions and having them vacated on the grounds that the state of Oklahoma didn't have the jurisdiction to prosecute them.

The ruling includes the entirety of City of Duncan as well as other portions of Stephens County because of tribal land.

An affidavit filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma shows Bench "has Indian blood and was an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation, a federally recognized Indian tribe, at the time of the offense."

Dismissal and a lack of jurisdiction in Indian Territory

District Attorney Jason Hicks, flanked by Stephens County Sheriff Wayne McKinney and Henry's parents, Renee Hinson and Billy Henry, hosted a press conference just after 3:30 p.m. Thursday to address the reversal and what happens next.

"Everybody here knows that Braylee was murdered in Stephens County in June of 2012," Hicks said. "I would say brutally murdered at a convenience store in Velma, Oklahoma, and it took the State of Oklahoma — it took us three years to get that case to trial. I can't help to look around this courtroom and recall the trial we had right here in 2015 where her killer was convicted of murder in the first degree and sentenced to death."

Hicks said following the death sentence from a jury of Bench's peers, a direct appeal is required by state statute. That appeal took place and then went to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. A year-and-a-half post-conviction, the appellate court released a nearly 100-page-long opinion determining there were "no problems with the case and there was no relief warranted with respect to the trial," according to Hicks. They also determined there "were no issues during the trial that warrant the relief" requested under the appeal, according to Hicks.

Since then, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling in McGirt vs. The State of Oklahoma.

"The United States Supreme Court has ruled ... it was specific to the Creek Reservation with respect to McGirt — it was ruled that if an Indian offender commits a crime within that Reservation, that the State of Oklahoma did not have jurisdiction," Hicks said. "They said that was specific to major crimes, but that has been extended by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to an essence to include all crimes. What that means is I — as a representative of the State of Oklahoma through the District Attorney's office — no longer have jurisdiction over Indians, whether that be an Indian offender or a victim that happens to be an Indian. An example would be a non-Indian who victimizes an Indian — I don't have jurisdiction over that. An Indian offender or an Indian-on-Indian crime — I don't have jurisdiction over that either."

Hicks said the ruling has provided challenges in how it takes away "a lot of the ability" he has to "enforce the law here in the State of Oklahoma."

"It has been detrimental to us," Hicks said. "Now, here today, we stand to talk about the case against Miles Bench being the one who took the life of a 16-year-old child. A child who, for all intents and purposes, was a phenomenal human being and I really feel like I have gotten to know her through her family and friends who have talked about her. And to listen to them talk about what a wonderful person she was — she absolutely did not deserve to die in the Teepee Totem in 2012. And now, here we are here in 2021, having to talk about what happened to her all over again because a decision that the United States Supreme Court (made). I think it was wrongly decided and I think it is wrong and I think the circumstances that are flowing from this are wrong. And today, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, based upon that McGirt decision, reversed the conviction of Miles Bench."

Hicks said the Oklahoma Attorney General's office will look to make a stay request while they also attempt to seek out what is referred to as a CERT — or a Certiorari. According to Hicks, that means the Attorney General will seek review by the Supreme Court. If they are going to do so, it is referred to as a "CERT." Hicks said that would mean the Supreme Court granted the request of the Attorney General for review of the decision by the Court of Criminal Appeals.

"To say how long it is going to be before the case is back here to be dismissed by the District Court in Stephens County — I do not know the answer to that question," Hicks said. "It is going to depend on a lot of stuff with the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals as well as the United States Supreme Court."

Sheriff McKinney said his office spent countless hours working on the "brutal murder that occurred back in 2012 and to these folks' daughter," and that he felt at a loss of words with everything that has happened since McGirt came down.

"This case has been really close to my heart and my office's heart because it was such a brutal act, and now I am standing here today after this man was judged by his peers and convicted and sentence for the capital murder to be dismissed and moved over to a Federal Docket based on one reason," Hicks said. "That one reason is that he was Native American — he was an Indian. At the time, McGirt didn't exist, but it does now and these cases are being dismissed right and left and putting dangerous people back on the streets. At least we have an agreement now that this will be picked up by the U.S. Attorney's office, but there is no guarantees in any new trial how this will turn out. And the worst thing for me is to have to see this family go through what they went through back in 2012. It breaks my heart to have to see that."

Reliving a nightmare for victims and their families

Hinson, Henry's mother, also spoke during the press conference and reflected on the last nine years since her daughter has been gone.

"We spent three of those years in this court room trying her," Hinson said. "The Constitution allows us as citizens of the United States to protect our children to protect our family. On June the 6th, 2012, Miles Bench did not allow us to do that and he took her life in a store away from our home and he took it brutally and heinously and we sought the death penalty because that was the right decision to do.

"And now, the Supreme Court is telling us that this is our only avenue that we have to seek justice and to protect her honor and now the Supreme Court has taken that away from us," Hinson continued. "What else are we to do and what if it is your child? What if it is your daughter and what if it is your sister, brother or mother? It is just heart wrenching that we have to re-live this again and for all the other families. We are the not the only ones that have to live this again. We have come to a place in society I believe that we are making heroes and lifting these criminals up instead of the victims and the lives that they took. I wanted to say what a beautiful child that I had. She was a loving and caring person and all those who knew her loved her and we loved her too and her life was priceless and what do you do for that?"

Billy Henry, Braylee's father, pointed to history as he spoke.

"You know, I am not good at talking in public, but in 1907, the Oklahoma Territory, the Indian Territory, voted in a certified election for Statehood," he said. "They wanted statehood, but now that doesn't matter. President Roosevelt said Oklahoma is the 46th State in the United States equal to all of her sister states. That is all I've got to say... They voted on it."

Hicks said under the McGirt ruling, there have been multiple cases in the State of Oklahoma seeing reversals and it isn't fair to the victims or their families.

"It seems like every single week the list of cases that are issued by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, it's one case after another — murders, rapes, robberies," Hicks said. "Very, very serious crimes and those cases are all being reversed and sent back to district court for dismissal ... The thing that is not being taken into consideration are these families. The victims are not being heard, the victims are not being listened to. Victims and their families are being treated like trash and just thrown out to the curb just like nothing matters."

Hicks said twice during the conference the Hinson-Henry family has no want for this case to go anywhere else.

"This family expressed to this court they don't want this case going anywhere else, they want it to remain in state court, but that doesn't matter," Hicks said. "And the victims or a victim's family, they should have a voice in this courtroom and it's wrong to reverse these court cases and send them back for another trial simply because somebody has a Native American lineage in them. And again, Braylee was one-quarter Choctaw. Why doesn't her voice matter in this particular instance? And here we are, having to talk about the reasons why this case is going to the U.S. Attorney's office. It's not fair and it's not right and this has to be addressed and it has to be fixed."

Hicks said it's emotional for all of the parties involved — the victims and their families, the law enforcement agencies working the cases and for himself and his office.

"I think it is a travesty of justice and to watch this family to have to go through all this all over again does nothing but make my blood boil," he said. "We have got victims here in Stephens County that are going to go through this repeatedly. Just a month ago, we had three child molesters walk out of our courthouse with no charges pending against them through either the tribal authorities or through the Federal Government."

What happens to Miles Bench next

Following the reversal and the call for dismissal in Stephens County District Court, Bench was charged federally in April 2021 with kidnapping resulting in death.

Hicks said to his understanding, on the federal level, the case will not be death eligible. He said that is because "the tribe has not consented to allow their tribal members or Indian members to be executed by the federal government."

"So it leaves that status off the table and it is my understanding, based upon the nature of the defense, that there is not a crime that the U.S. Attorney's office could charge that would make it death eligible because the facts were simply not there. So ... the death penalty would be off the table," Hicks said. "The maximum punishment that would be available at the federal level at this particular case is life. They don't have life without parole, but a life sentence in the federal system means you'll spend your natural life behind bars."

Hicks said the process will send them back here to district court under Judge Brent Russell.

"Judge Russell sat on and presided over the trial. He will be required at some point to bring and enter an order for a statement of hearing," Hicks said. "At that point, we'll come back in and he'll have to follow mandate and that mandate of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals that the cases be dismissed, he'll be required to dismiss the case at that point. There is a federal complaint on file right now, a warrant, that's been issued for the arrest of Miles Bench so he will simply be brought to Stephens County and be transported into the custody of federal marshals at which point he'll be housed in — I'm just going to assume he'll be housed in the Grady County jail, they have a contract with the federal government to house federal inmates — but it'll be one of those jails in the State of Oklahoma that the federal government has a contract with to house federal inmates and which jail that will be at this point, we don't know for sure."

In regards to the Chickasaw Nation and their opinion, Hicks said they haven't given one in respect to the particular case but he has spoken with them.

"I've been in contact with the Chickasaws," Hicks said. "I'll add this, the Chickasaws have been very, very good to work with. I think they recognize cases like this are going to be very difficult and in fact, one member of the Chickasaw Nation that I have visited with is very troubled about cases exactly like this. A case I have in another county, it's been expressed to me they want justice just as much as I do, just as much as law enforcement wants justice because they recognize if we don't have law enforcement and we don't have a just system, things get out of control and that's not something the Chickasaws want to do. Specific to this case, no, I've not sat down and had detailed conversations with them. I have visited with the U.S. Attorney's office about it though."

Hicks said there is some cause for concern because during a former competency hearing, Bench was shown on video allegedly making an attempt to escape the jail he was residing in at the time.

"I think that's always a concern with us. I know what this particular defendant is capable of," Hicks said. "Not only did you have the attempt to escape at the point ... He was not very far from the exit of the jail and he had a plan, had outlined he had a plan. He knew that all he had to do was yell 'exit' and that he would be buzzed out and he was ready to run down the hall. He was 16-20 feet away from getting out of jail. Now fortunately, the sheriff's office, they do a phenomenal job and they had somebody there, caught him hiding before he could attempt to make that exit so you take that into consideration, couple that with the fact that as soon as he, after he murdered Braylee and took her body and dumped her body in a field by, out in his grandparents' field, he took her car and was on the run and had planned to go California. So is an escape a concern? Absolutely, it is a concern. Right now, he is housed in a maximum security facility in McAlester but understand that Department of Corrections just within the last couple of years (said) that death row inmates should not be housed in a cell by themselves so he is now in the general population in McAlester in a maximum security facility."

A call on Congress to find a fix

When it comes to how the community can step up and make sure their voice is heard when it comes to this issue, Hicks said to call your U.S. Senator and Congressman.

"They're the ones that have the power and the authority to do something," Hicks said. "It will take federal legislation to fix it or some type of an agreement between the State of Oklahoma and the Tribe. Even then, it will still take federal legislation to allow the State of Oklahoma to enter into some kind of agreement with the Chickasaws to confer jurisdiction back on the State of Oklahoma, so contacting their congressman and their U.S. Senators is what has to happen. It won't work to contact a local legislator, a state senator or a state representative or the governor's office or the attorney general's office because they can't fix this problem. The attorney general has done and is doing everything within their power to take cases up on appeal and to fight on behalf of victims in the State of Oklahoma but they're limited in what they can do because they're stuck with whatever an appellate court rules. It will take some type of legislation in Washington, D.C. to fix this problem."

McKinney also stressed to the public to call their elected officials in Washington, D.C. to effect change as quickly as possible.

"I can't stress more than to have the public get ahold of their congressman and talk to them about the situation," McKinney said. "The U.S. Congress (are) the only people that can fix this right now and I would specifically get ahold of (Congressman) Tom Cole, ask him, reach out to him directly. Ask him some hard questions and ask him if there's anything he can do to make this, improve this situation."

Before closing out the press conference, Hinson spoke one more time about the community and their support and also asked for those in the area to call their congressman.

"I'm just so thankful that we do live in Stephens County, that what happened to our family, (un)fortunately it happened here and I'm so thankful that we had someone like Jason and Sheriff McKinney that did their jobs, that did what they're supposed to do," Hinson said. "All these years, they've been doing it. It's time for our Congress and our state legislators to do their job."