Murder defendant may be financially liable in Okmulgee dismemberment slayings
OKMULGEE — Joseph Lloyd Kennedy, charged with first-degree murder after October's discovery of four dead men found shot and dismembered in a nearby river, now faces financial consequences because of those deaths.
On Tuesday, Okmulgee County District Court Judge Pandee Ramirez signed a default judgment that makes Kennedy financially culpable, even though he has not yet been tried on accusations he is responsible or found guilty.
The default judgment was issued as part of a wrongful death lawsuit filed on Oct. 25 against Kennedy on behalf of victims' personal representatives by Tulsa attorney Robert V. Seacat.
Kennedy was charged Monday with four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Mark Chastain, 32; Billy Chastain, 30; Mike Sparks, 32; and Alex Stevens, 29, all of Okmulgee.
Seacat requested and was granted the default because Kennedy failed to respond to the lawsuit within the allowed time under Oklahoma law.
Judge Ramirez has scheduled a hearing at 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 28 to determine damages, court documents show.
Seacat also has sought and received a temporary injunction from Ramirez in another case filed against Kennedy in Okmulgee County on Oct. 19 by his wife, Sandra Jean Kennedy, who seeks a divorce from her husband of 42 years.
That temporary injunction bars the Kennedys from selling any of the properties they jointly own as part of a divorce settlement until the wrongful death lawsuit against Joseph Kennedy concludes. Additional arguments regarding that injunction will be heard by the judge in a hearing scheduled on Dec. 13, court records show.
Judgment comes after charges are filed
Kennedy was ordered held without bond on Monday when the charges were filed.
On Tuesday, he notified the court he needed to be represented by court-appointed counsel, citing the temporary injunction involving his divorce case as the reason why he had "no money or property (or friends or relatives with money or property)" with which to post bond or hire private counsel.
Later that day, attorneys with the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System filed an entry of appearance on Kennedy's behalf in the case.
If found guilty of the criminal charges, Kennedy could be sentenced to death or to life in prison with or without the possibility of parole.
Kennedy had been a "person of interest" since he fled Oklahoma after the men's bodies were discovered.
According to an affidavit unsealed Dec. 1, Kennedy allegedly told a friend "they were stealing from him" and that he killed them and cut them up.
“I would never be so bold as to predict what the defense might bring up, but the last time I checked, regardless of what happened, we don’t have the death penalty in Oklahoma for stealing,” Okmulgee County District Attorney Carol Iski said Monday.
Victims remembered after funerals
Anita Harding, who has worked as a bail bond agent in Okmulgee for more than 20 years, told The Oklahoman she is dismayed by unsympathetic gossip from some in the city during the weeks following the four men’s killings.
“Everybody talks about them like they were bad,” Harding said. “Yeah, they were going to do something bad, but to be shot and dismembered? That’s just terrible.”
So far, no makeshift memorials or markers have been placed publicly near either of the salvage yards or at the riverside where the men’s bodies were discovered.
“But if you look at the Victim’s Tree at the county courthouse, on the second floor, they have a Christmas tree they put up every year with all of the victims that’s been murdered,” Harding said. “They have their ornaments with the (four men’s) names on that tree this year.”
A joint funeral for Mark and Billy Chastain took place at Okmulgee’s Refuge Church on Oct. 27. A “celebration of life” for Mike Sparks was hosted at the Muscogee Dome on Oct. 29, and additional services were held Nov. 3 for Alex Stevens at Okmulgee’s Jubilee Christian Center.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Plaintiffs win judgment against Okmulgee dismemberment murder defendant
