4 days ago
Brent Swadley asks judge to kick AG, assistants off his criminal conspiracy case
The owner of Swadley's Bar-B-Q wants Attorney General Gentner Drummond removed from his criminal case.
Brent Swadley is accusing Drummond of making improper prejudicial statements about the case as he runs for governor. He also wants the AG's assistants off the case.
Swadley was indicted last year over his controversial operation of restaurants at state parks during the pandemic. His jury trial is set to begin Nov. 3 in Oklahoma County District Court.
A state multicounty grand jury alleged he knowingly presented fraudulent invoices to the state from Swadley's Foggy Bottom Kitchen LLC. He denies the accusations.
Foggy Bottom Kitchen cafes were developed at six state parks. The first one opened in 2020 during the pandemic. The last opened in 2022. The Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department in April 2022 canceled its agreement over the cafes due to "suspected fraudulent activity and questionable business practices."
Swadley, 54, faces one count of conspiracy to defraud the state and five counts of presenting fraudulent claims to the state.
Swadley on Tuesday, June 3, asked District Judge Susan Stallings to disqualify Drummond and the AG's assistants from prosecuting him. "We will vigorously oppose this motion," the AG's spokesman said. No hearing date has been set yet.
In a lengthy filing, defense attorneys complained about a number of statements made by Drummond both before and after the Republican announced in January he was running for governor.
The most recent came in April in Yukon at the mayor's prayer breakfast meeting. "We had the great idea to open up restaurants in our state parks," Drummond said, according to the filing. "We made a deal with our friend, and then didn't hold him accountable. And as he washed invoices, he was able to take over $6 million from the state of Oklahoma."
The defense attorneys called the statements "made-for-media sound bites of a political candidate in an active gubernatorial race."
"They seek to achieve political gain at the expense of Swadley's right to a fair trial," the attorneys told the judge. "They are designed to convict Swadley in the public eye in advance of trial."
Also set for trial on Nov. 3 is Timothy Raymond Hooper, 56, who was listed at the time of the indictment as the chief operating officer at Swadley's Bar-B-Q. The trial for the two men is expected to last three weeks.
Statements by prosecutors outside the courtroom have impacted criminal cases in Oklahoma before.
Notably, Oklahoma County District Attorney Bob Macy in 2000 was disqualified from the state bombing case for his statements to the media that Terry Nichols deserved the death penalty.
"You should have been down there the first four or five days," Macy said in an interview with CBS. "There would be no question in your mind. ... I've sent several people to death row for killing one person. I certainly feel that death would be the appropriate punishment for killing 19 babies."
Nichols was convicted in 2004 of 161 counts of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after his jury deadlocked on the death penalty.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: With trial just months away, Brent Swadley wants AG off criminal case
