Buy latte, pack gun: Starbucks hit with boycott -- and 'buycott'

This post has been updated. Please see note at bottom for details.

Those who prefer to drink their lattes packing protection on their hip turned out at Starbucks across the country on the first day of a "buycott" organized by gun owners -- countering the Starbucks boycott called this week by the National Gun Victims Action Council.

The issue of Starbucks allowing gun owners to openly carry their weapons in states that have "open carry" laws has been simmering for years. The new boycott, which launched Tuesday, aims at persuading Starbucks to join a growing list of retail chains, including Peet's Coffee, California Pizza Kitchen and IKEA, which prohibit guns even when they're otherwise legal.

"Starbucks allowing guns to be carried in thousands of their stores significantly increases everyone's risk of being a victim of gun violence," Elliot Fineman, head of the Chicago-based council, said in a press release announcing the boycott.

Most of the visible action Tuesday seemed to be on the buycott side of things, though, as gun groups across the country urged their members to show up at Starbucks -- not necessarily with their weapons -- and spend.

Joe Huffman, a Seattle software engineer who writes a gun blog based in his native Idaho, reported that he and his friends spent $131.64 at the Starbucks in Seattle's main shopping district Tuesday.

"I wasn't carrying a gun. I did have a jacket on that had an [National Rifle Assn.] life member patch," Huffman said in an interview. "I wanted to demonstrate that even though they're under a lot of pressure, we're very appreciative of them standing up against those people."

Similar "Starbucks Appreciation Day" demonstrations were reported in several states, including Hawaii, Tennessee, and Michigan, as well as in several suburban communities around Seattle, where Starbucks is headquartered.

In Columbus, Ohio, students promoting the right to carry guns at Ohio State University protested outside a Starbucks, carrying signs with such slogans as, "Because I CAN'T carry a cop," the Lantern student newspaper reported.

"I threw out the idea of a Starbucks appreciation day on my online forum, and God Almighty, it caught fire," Dave Workman, editor of the Gun Mag, based in Bellevue, Wash., said in an interview.

"These guys want Starbucks to act as their surrogate, to push this social bigotry against gun owners, and I think the gun owners have responded rather well," Workman said. "The gun guys are willing to put their money where their mouth is, while the anti-gun guys are trying to take money away from Starbucks. Now if I was in business, if I was Howard Schultz, I would sit back and think, 'Guess whose side I'm on? Not the people who are taking my business away.'"

Starbucks officials did not respond to phone calls or emails seeking comment. But in a statement on its website -- placed there in 2010 when the Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence launched a petition campaign targeting the chain -- Starbucks said its policy was to follow existing state laws where its stores operate.

"That means we abide by the laws that permit open carry in 43 U.S. states. Where these laws don’t exist, openly carrying weapons in our stores is prohibited. The political, policy and legal debates around these issues belong in the legislatures and courts, not in our stores," the company said.

The Brady campaign's legislation director, Brian Malte, told the Los Angeles Times that the group is continuing with its public pressure campaign, although it is not participating in the boycott.

"We still feel there's time for Starbucks to make the right decision to protect their employees and customers," Malte said.

But Fineman said boycott advocates made the decision that it was time to step up the pressure. He said the coalition includes about 50 secular anti-gun organizations, faith groups and private citizens touched by gun violence, whose numbers, through a complicated formula, he puts at 14 million.

Fineman, who runs a marketing firm whose clients include Fortune 500 companies, became active in gun control causes after his son was shot and killed in a San Diego restaurant in 2006 by a mentally ill man wielding a legally purchased handgun.

"We're not going to let people just say, 'This isn't our issue, it's a political issue.' Because there's no way that the current forces on our side can combat the NRA. They're just too big. They have an enormous amount of money and people, and they throw their weight around in a pretty big fashion," Fineman said in an interview.

"But who has more money than them? Corporate America. So the point is to get corporate America to do what we can't do."

[Updated, 3:48 p.m. Feb. 15: In a statement released Wednesday after this post was published, Starbucks reiterated that its policy is to comply with the law in the communities where its stores are. “As the public debate around this issue continues, we encourage customers and advocacy groups from both sides to share their input with their public officials," the company said. "We are extremely sensitive to the issue of gun violence in our society and believe that supporting local laws is the right way for us to ensure a safe environment for both our partners (employees) and customers."]

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Photo: Starbucks allows patrons to openly carry guns in the 43 states that have such laws. Credit: Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

Texas man accused of kidnapping, torturing former neighbor

Prosecutors say a North Texas woman's former neighbor kidnapped her, burned down her house, chained her to a bed and tortured her with a deer-skinning device.

Jeffrey Allan Maxwell's trial began Tuesday in Weatherford, about 30 miles west of Fort Worth. Maxwell, 59, of Corsicana faces a possible life sentence if convicted of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault.

Apparently the woman, who lives in Whitt, about 50 miles west of Fort Worth, had refused Maxwell's advances when they were neighbors, KWTX reported.

Prosecutor Kathleen Catania told jurors the woman's DNA was found in Maxwell's car and house after he was arrested, according to the Associated Press. Catania said Maxwell kidnapped the woman from her home at gunpoint March 1 and drove her to his house, about 100 miles away and 75 miles southeast of Fort Worth, where he held her for 12 days.

Maxwell told an investigator that after he took the woman back to his house, he "strung her up" in his garage on a homemade rack used for skinning deer, according to court records cited by the Associated Press.

When Maxwell would leave to do errands, he would store the woman in a box, Catania told the court.

Strangely, the woman initially said family members were trying to kill her, but later told investigators Maxwell hit her with a rolling pin and pulled a gun on her while taking her from her house, according to court testimony reported by the Weatherford Democrat.

“He forced me in the house so he could tie me up and put me in his vehicle,” the woman said after Sgt. Ricky Montgomery of the Parker County Sheriff’s Office pressed her about what happened.

The woman said she found out her house had burned down while watching the news with Maxwell, who told her the house needed to be burned to get rid of his fingerprints, according to the Weatherford Democrat.

Maxwell has also been investigated on suspicion of involvement in the disappearance of his ex-wife, Martha Martinez Maxwell, missing since 1992. Maxwell first went missing in 1987 and was later found beaten with her throat cut near Ardmore, Okla. She survived and Jeffrey Maxwell was charged with aggravated kidnapping, but a grand jury declined to indict him, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

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Photo: Jeffrey Allan Maxwell enters Judge Trey Loftin's Weatherford, Texas, courtroom on Tuesday. Maxwell, 59, is charged with aggravated kidnapping and two counts of aggravated sexual assault. Credit: Ron T. Ennis / Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

'Dougherty gang' sister enters guilty plea in Colorado

 

Lee Grace Dougherty, one of the fugitive siblings of the Dougherty gang caught after a nationwide dragnet last summer, has pleaded guilty to reduced charges in Colorado and will have to serve at least nine years in prison, officials said.

 

Dougherty, 29, appeared in Huerfano County District Court in Walsenburg, Colo., about 160 miles south of Denver, on Thursday to plead guilty to one count of attempted first-degree assault and two counts of felony menacing, all felonies, according to court records.

As part of the plea, prosecutors agreed to drop 21 other charges against Dougherty, said Rob McCallum, a spokesman for the Colorado Judicial Department, who spoke with The Times.

Prosecutors had charged Dougherty, a former stripper, with five counts of attempted second-degree murder and other felonies connected with the chase and capture of her and her two brothers in southern Colorado on Aug. 10. The chase proved to be the end of what authorities described as a seven-state crime rampage by the clan dubbed “Bonnie, Clyde & Clyde.”

There's nothing in the deal that requires Dougherty to testify against her younger brothers, Ryan Dougherty, 21, and Dylan Stanley-Dougherty, 26.

The three are accused of shooting at a police officer in their native Florida, and later robbing a Georgia bank on their way to Colorado.

The most serious charge in Colorado, attempted first-degree assault, was for pointing a gun at Walsenburg Police Chief James Chamberlain, who watched Thursday’s plea hearing from a back bench, McCallum said. Chamberlain shot Dougherty in the knee after she and her brothers rolled their car at the end of a lengthy high-speed chase and she emerged pointing a gun at him.

At Thursday’s hearing, the judge asked Dougherty if she was taking any pain medication for the wound that could cloud her judgment in entering a guilty plea, and she assured him she was not, that it was just a scar, McCallum said.

Dougherty appeared before Huerfano District Court Chief Judge Claude Appel on Thursday in a yellow jail jumpsuit, hands shackled at her waist, her blond-brown hair darker than it was in August and pulled back in a ponytail, McCallum said.

McCallum said the judge took his time in reviewing the plea with Dougherty.

“He was very methodical this morning with Lee Grace — he wanted to make sure she understood,” McCallum said.

In response, Dougherty said of the plea: “This is really what I want to do.”

McCallum described Dougherty as “very quiet, very respectful to the court.”

At one point, when the judge asked Dougherty if she was satisfied with her attorney, court-appointed public defender Patrick McCarville, Dougherty described him as “the best lawyer ever,” McCallum said.

 “She seemed to be in a good mood,” McCallum said.

Dougherty’s attorney could not be reached for comment Thursday. The prosecutor handling the case did not return calls. The judge has imposed a gag order because of the pending cases against Dougherty’s brothers, McCallum said.

Dougherty faces a maximum of 28 years in prison when she is sentenced April 30, McCallum said. The judge agreed to let Dougherty serve her Colorado sentence at the same time as any other sentences she may receive stemming from charges filed against her in Georgia and Florida.

She was being held at the Huerfano County Jail on Thursday, McCallum said.

Her two brothers are next scheduled to appear at plea hearings in Colorado on Feb. 16, but it was not clear Thursday whether their cases will go to trial, McCallum said.

Ryan Dougherty was being held at the Huerfano County Jail on Thursday, but brother Dylan Dougherty had been moved to Pueblo County Jail and now faces additional charges after he allegedly attempted to escape and was caught with contraband, McCallum said.

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Photo: Lee Grace Dougherty is shown in August at the Pueblo County Sheriff's Office detention center in Pueblo, Colo., the day after she was arrested along with her two younger brothers. Credit: Mike Sweeney / Pueblo Chieftain

Gunman killed after opening fire in Middletown, N.Y., courthouse

A gunman opened fire inside the Middletown, N.Y., courthouse Wednesday, injuring a court officer before being shot to death by another officer.

Local news reports said the gunman had a grudge against the mayor of the small Hudson Valley city, Joseph DeStefano, and had been arrested last year after showing up at the mayor's home with a machete. He was identified as Tim Mulqueen, a former landlord apparently angry over DeStefano's crackdown on code enforcement and rental properties.

The shooting threw the downtown area into chaos. Witnesses said the incident began about 9 a.m. when a man wearing a scarf over his face and a hooded jacket parked a dirt bike outside the complex housing the courts and municipal offices and marched up the stairs holding a shotgun.

He took aim at two court officers, hitting one in the arm before the other officer shot back. Some workers dove under their desks as the shots rang out. The gunman, who the Associated Press said was 43 years old, died later in a hospital.

Middletown, a city of 28,000 people, is about 70 miles northwest of New York City.

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Photo: A person injured in a courthouse shooting is moved into an ambulance by emergency responders in the New York town of Middletown. The gunman was killed. Credit: Steve Borland / Times Herald-Record

Only 1 handgun a month? Virginia lawmakers see no point in limit

For all those gun enthusiasts who feel constrained by Virginia’s one-handgun-a-month purchase limit, this bill’s for you: The Virginia Senate has voted to lift the 20-year-old limit to allow buying as many handguns as desired.

The measure stands a good chance of becoming law, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Tuesday. The Virginia House of Delegates passed the bill last week, and Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, has indicated he will sign it into law.

"The albatross is almost dead," said Philip van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, referring to the one-gun-a-month law enacted in 1993 to combat interstate gun trafficking.

The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Charles W. Carrico Sr., said the bill would bring Virginia in line with 46 other states, leaving only California, Maryland and New Jersey with similar handgun purchase limits.

"Today, the Senate took a stand for the Second Amendment by eliminating an unnecessary and outdated law," Carrico said in a statement.

Supporters of the bill, who included most of the Legislature’s Republicans as well as some Democrats from rural areas, contend that the state’s updated computerized check system makes the current law unnecessary.

Monday's passage of the bill drew withering criticism from the mother of a Virginia Tech student wounded in the 2007 shootings at the university.

"Virginia has had more than its share of horrific tragedies perpetrated by criminals with easy access to firearms,'' said Lori Haas, whose daughter Emily was one of 25 people injured in the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings, which killed 35. "It’s a sad day when our legislators purposely make it easier for gun traffickers to do their dirty business."

Richard Cullen, a Republican and a former U.S. attorney in Virginia, said the one-gun-a-month law had been successful and should remain in place.

In 1993, gunrunning was a major problem up and down the East Coast, and I am convinced that this law had a significant impact in reducing gunrunning," Cullen said. "So I’m disappointed that it’s being repealed."

Sen. Richard L. Saslaw, a Democrat who opposes the bill, said allowing people to buy more than one handgun a month wouldn’t make Virginia any safer. Anyone who had bought a handgun a month under the current law would have amassed 240 guns during the law’s 20-year span.

If you need more than 240 handguns, then I would submit something's wrong with you," he said. "Something's gone wrong in your life."

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Photo: If Virginia lifts its one-handgun-a-month limit, only three states -- California, Maryland and New Jersey -- would have such limits. Here, handguns are shown on display at the National Shooting Sports Foundation's 34th annual Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show in Las Vegas on Jan. 17. Credit: Ethan Miller / Getty Images

Gang violence is less related to drugs than thought, CDC says

Gang homicides are less likely to be drug-related than many people think -- and more likely to be the result of factors such as retaliation to ongoing gang violence, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday. The report is from the first such study based on the agency’s National Violent Death Reporting System.

Using data from 2003 through 2008, the analysis looked at gang-related killings and other homicides in large cities in 17 states and found the highest level of gang homicides in five cities. Three were in California -- Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland; the other two were Oklahoma City, Okla., and Newark, N.J.

The finding that drugs played less of a role than previously thought by the public could be important for policymakers, because it could shift the focus in how society attempts to prevent gang deaths.

“Violence -- including gang homicides -- is a significant public health problem,” Linda C. Degutis, director of the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, said in a prepared statement. “Investing in early prevention pays off in the long run. It helps youth learn how to resolve conflicts without resorting to violence and keeps them connected to their families, schools and communities, and from joining gangs in the first place.”

The report, published in the CDC’s current Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, is based on the National Violent Death Reporting System. The state-based surveillance system collects violent death data from multiple sources, such as death certificates, coroner and medical examiner records, and various law enforcement reports.

The data focused on five cities that met the criteria of having a high prevalence of gang homicides. According to the report, the cities had 856 gang-related homicides and 2,077 non-gang homicides.

“This report highlights the importance of a system like NVDRS,” Howard Spivak, director of the CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention, stated. “The system’s unique ability to provide a comprehensive picture of the circumstances surrounding violent death can help identify prevention opportunities and approaches for populations and communities most at risk.”

According to the report, drugs play a relatively minor role in homicides. In Los Angeles and Long Beach, less than 5% of all homicides were associated with known drug trade or use. In Oakland, 12.5% of gang homicides, compared with 16.5% of non-gang homicides, involved drug trade or use. In Oklahoma City, 25.4% of gang homicides, compared with 22.8% of non-gang homicides, involved drugs. Newark was the only city with a significantly higher proportion of drug involvement in gang homicides, at 20% compared with non-gang homicides at 6%.

Comparing gang-related homicides to homicides outside of gangs showed that gang homicide victims were younger than non-gang homicide victims. Gang victims ranged from 15 to 19 years old. Approximately 80% of all homicide victims were male, but Los Angeles, Newark and Oklahoma City reported significantly higher proportions of male victims in gang homicides than in non-gang incidents.

Firearms were the weapons of choice in gang-related homicides. Between 92% to 96% of gang homicide incidents involved a firearm, compared with 57% to 86% in non-gang related homicides. Drive-by shootings were more likely to contribute to gang homicides than other types of homicide in Los Angeles and Oklahoma City; about a quarter of gang homicides in each city were from drive-by shootings, according to the report.

Less than 6% of the victims of all homicides were bystanders.

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Photo: Crews last week investigate the scene of what is believed to be a  gang-related shooting that claimed two lives in New Jersey.  The CDC has examined gang-related and non-gang-related homicides in a report released Thursday. Credit: Vernon Ogrodnek / Press of Atlantic City

Gabrielle Giffords: Poignant meetings mark final days in office

A day after announcing her intention to resign from Congress, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) on Monday completed the "Congress on Your Corner" event that was cut short more than a year ago when a gunman opened fire on her and her constituents in a Tucson parking lot. She and a dozen others were injured in the attack; six people were killed.

The congresswoman, who was shot in the head and has been struggling to recuperate, announced in a video posted online Sunday that she planned to resign this week to focus on her recovery, making Monday's gathering all the more poignant.

Among those who met with Giffords was Pat Maisch, who wrestled a gun magazine from the shooter and was hailed as a hero.

"I thanked her for her service, wished her well, and she just looked beautiful," Maisch told the Arizona Star.

Maisch, who was not injured in the shooting, said she was touched that Giffords returned to finish the meeting at the Safeway store, and was sad to see her leave public office.

"I've always said I would love for her to continue to be my congresswoman, but I want her to do what's best for her," Maisch said. "She's got to take care of herself."

On Monday, Gifford’s Facebook and Twitter feeds showed images of her meeting with survivors and others in her hometown of Tucson, the heart of her 8th Congressional District.

Giffords appeared holding the hand of Suzi Hileman, who brought 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green to meet the congresswoman outside the supermarket that fateful day. Christina was among those slain in the shooting. Hileman was shot three times.

In another picture, Giffords is shown embracing her former intern, Daniel Hernandez, who helped save her life by stanching her bleeding until paramedics arrived.

Giffords smiled and shook hands during the event, once again wearing the glasses she has sported during her recovery (but which she did not wear in the video released Sunday).

As reported in a tweet, Arizona rancher Gary Thrasher said after meeting with Giffords on Monday: "She had true grit then & she has true grit now."

Giffords has said she plans to travel to Washington to attend President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday.

There, Giffords plans to sit between Reps. Jeff Flake, a Republican, and Raul Grijalva, a Democrat, according to a statement released by her office to The Times on Monday.

At last year’s State of the Union speech, held shortly after Giffords was shot and wounded, Flake and Grijalva flanked an empty seat reserved for her.

Giffords has invited Brian Kolfage to attend as her guest. Kolfage is a triple amputee who was injured during a mortar attack in Iraq in 2004 and serves on the congresswoman’s Veterans Advisory Council.

Obama has also invited Giffords’ husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, to attend the address, at which he will sit with the first lady, according to Monday's statement.

Jared Lee Loughner was later charged in connection with the Jan. 8, 2011, shooting outside the Safeway. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and remains in federal custody as officials attempt to restore his competency to stand trial.

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Photo: Rep. Gabrielle Giffords greets Arizona rancher Gary Thrasher during a "Congress on Your Corner" constituent event in Tucson on Monday. Credit: Twitter

Tucson shooting anniversary: Obama praises Gabrielle Giffords

President Obama, who led the nation in mourning after the attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others a year ago in Tucson, has called the congresswoman to praise her as an inspiration, the White House announced Sunday.

Obama’s call came as Tucson and the nation commemorated the events of Jan. 8, 2011, when a lone gunman opened fire on Giffords, who was holding a meet-and-greet event in a parking lot at a Tucson shopping center. Six people were killed and 13 others, including the Giffords, were injured in the attack.

The White House said Obama called Giffords on Sunday to say that he and First Lady Michelle Obama keep her, “the families of the fallen, and the whole Tucson community in their daily thoughts and prayers and, along with the entire nation, continue to join her in mourning those lost.”

Obama also said he was amazed by the “courage and determination” Giffords “has shown along her incredible road to recovery,” and called her “an inspiration to his family and Americans across the country.”

Giffords, 41, who was shot in the head during the attack, has spent much of the last year in Houston undergoing physical and speech therapy.

Giffords has regained the ability to walk and talk and has even appeared in Congress to cast a vote. She gave a televised interview to ABC's Diane Sawyer in May.

Still, it remains unclear what the long-term effects of the gunshot to her brain will be. Giffords is in her third term in Congress and has several months before she has to formally declare whether she will seek a fourth term.

Giffords and her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, were expected to join thousands at an evening candlelight vigil at the University of Arizona. Kelly was expected to speak.

Jared Lee Loughner, 23, has pleaded not guilty to 49 charges in connection with the shooting. He is being medicated at a Missouri prison facility after he was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

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Photo: Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, center, husband Mark Kelly and Nancy Barber, the wife of Giffords' district director, Ron Barber, visit the Davidson Canyon Gabe Zimmerman Memorial Trailhead  overlooking Tucson on Saturday. Zimmerman was one of six people killed in the attack that left Giffords gravely injured. Credit: Cheryl Evans / Arizona Republic

 

Oklahoma teen mom called 'hero' for fatally shooting intruder

Some might call it a case of swift Oklahoma justice for at least one of two intruders -- both reportedly high on prescription drugs -- who tried to break into a young widow's home on New Year's Eve.

Sarah McKinley, 18, calmly used a shotgun to shoot and kill one of the men when he forced his way through the front door of her mobile home and past a sofa she had used to barricade it.  Now, the second man is facing first-degree murder charges, and McKinley is being hailed as a hero for doing what she believed she had to do to protect herself and her 3-month-old son, Justin.

The two men were reportedly looking for drugs -- most likely painkillers -- that they believed might have been left behind by McKinley's husband, who died of lung cancer on Christmas Day.

McKinley will not face charges in connection with the case, which is garnering headlines around the world, because there appears to be little confusion about the facts of the case. Much of her ordeal was captured in a recording of the 911 call in which she asked for help -- and also asked for permission to shoot if necessary.

"There's a guy at my door and I'm here by myself with my infant baby. Can I please get a dispatcher out here immediately?" McKinley asks in a voice that is both steady, but tinged with emotion. Grady County dispatcher Diane Graham asks McKinley whether her doors are locked. Her steely answer: "Yes. I've got two guns in my hand. Is it OK to shoot him if he comes in my door?"

"I can't tell you that you can do that," Graham answers, "but you do what you have to do to protect your baby."

Justin Shane Martin, 24, of Blanchard, died clutching a knife in his gloved left hand, according to court records filed in Grady County district court. His alleged accomplice, Dustin Louis Stewart, 29, also of Blanchard, shown above, later turned himself in to police.

Stewart later confessed to police that he and Martin "devised a plan to burglarize the residence" because Martin knew that "a resident of the home had recently died of cancer" and he "suspected narcotics may be located inside the residence," according to an affidavit. Stewart also told police that he and Martin took the drug hydrocodone about 30 minutes before the planned break-in, according to the court records.

Grady County prosecutors said McKinley acted in self-defense.

"Our initial review of the case doesn't indicate she violated the law in any way," Asst. Dist. Atty. James Walters told NewsOK. "He should have thought about it before he went into someone's home."

McKinley told NewsOK that she tried to hold off as long as she could, waiting for police to arrive, while Martin kept pounding on the front door. At one point, she gave her son a bottle to keep him from crying too loud -- and possibly alerting the intruders to her specific location.

"I didn't want to give away my position in the house, I wanted to see him first," she said of the intruders during this video interview with NewsOK.

But about 21 minutes later, with no law enforcement officer in sight, Martin pushed his way in the door.

"I was standing in the bedroom doorway with a shotgun in my hand ... when he did come in the door ... I told 911 I was going to shoot and I did. And he just kind of fell over the couch."

She said she feels bad -- but has no regrets.

"I felt like what I did was the best decision for my son and I. Obviously when someone breaks into your house with a deadly weapon, they're not here for anything good. But I am very sorry and it's not something I ever wanted to do."

The public has been supportive of McKinley, to say the least. A sampling from stories posted online about the incident: "Good for her." "Glad she survived and the intruder got his 'just reward.'" "Give her the highest award for valor." "Good on you girl."

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Top photo: Sarah McKinley, 18, and her baby. Credit: Steve Sisney / The Oklahoman

Bottom photo: Booking photo of 29-year-old Dustin Louis Stewart, who now faces first-degree murder charges. Credit: Associated Press /Grady County Sheriff's Office