Ex-OKC officer’s murder conviction upheld
The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals on Thursday upheld the seconddegree murder conviction of a former Oklahoma City police sergeant who shot and killed an unarmed suicidal man.
In 2019, an Oklahoma County District Court jury convicted Keith Patrick Sweeney, who was 34 at the time, of unlawfully shooting to death Dustin Pigeon, 29.
About two years earlier, officers arrived about 2:30 a.m. on Nov. 15, 2017, at the courtyard of a housing complex in southwest Oklahoma City after a 911 call from Pigeon, who had threatened suicide.
Pigeon held a can of lighter fluid and a disposable lighter and threatened to set himself on fire.
Two officers wore body cameras. One pointed a less-lethal bean-bag shotgun. The other never removed his weapon from its holster.
They approached Pigeon, who was intoxicated, and attempted to de-escalate the situation, asking him to put down the lighter fluid and lighter.
Moments later, Sweeney, who was not wearing a body camera, approached Pigeon with his gun drawn, yelling, “Drop it!”
The video played for jurors shows the flashlight attached to Sweeney’s handgun shining on Pigeon. Sweeney then shouts, “I will (expletive) shoot you! Get on the ground!”
After Pigeon lowered his hands to waist level, an officer fired one round from a bean-bag shotgun, striking Pigeon in the left hip.
About the same time, Sweeney fired five shots with his 9mm handgun, striking Pigeon three times, including once in the heart.
The jury recommended a 10-year sentence in prison for Sweeney.
Oklahoma County District Judge Natalie Mai agreed with the jury’s recommendation, telling Sweeney he shouldn’t be treated differently because he was a police officer.
On Thursday, the criminal appeals court upheld Sweeney’s conviction.
Sweeney appealed on 25 points, including the alleged denial of due process because a defense expert witness’ testimony was excluded, the usage of bodycam footage that he said should have been excluded, and the trial court allegedly abusing its discretion by allowing photographs of Pigeon’s dead body to be seen.
Writing for the criminal appeals court, Vice Presiding Judge Robert L. Hudson denied that the trial court abused its discretion. Hudson also found that the trial court appropriately disallowed inadmissible portions of proposed testimony, and that photos of Pigeon’s body were relevant to multiple issues in the case.
“Nothing in the record before this court suggests any impropriety or bias on behalf of the trial court as claimed by (the) appellant,” Hudson wrote in his 16page opinion.
Gary James, the defense attorney for Sweeney, declined to comment.
Sweeney also has run into legal trouble behind bars.
On July 8, 2021, Sweeney was charged in Marshall County with 12 counts of felony possession of child pornography.
Sweeney served part of his sentence from January 2020 to April 2021 at the Marshall County Detention Center. It is not uncommon for police officers convicted of felonies to be placed in protective custody.
In late March 2021, an investigator with the Norman Police Department reached out to Marshall County Sheriff Donald Yow about cyber crimes involving Sweeney inside the detention center.
Sweeney is accused of receiving and sending pictures of child pornography by using the detention center’s Wi-Fi system. In a statement at the time, Yow said a former jail administrator allowed Sweeney to have an iPad with access to the Wi-Fi system and a password.
Charges against the former jail administrator were submitted to the district attorney’s office, Yow said.
Sweeney has pleaded not guilty to the child pornography charges. His case is pending in Marshall County District Court.
Prison records show Sweeney is now being held at the Joseph Harp Correctional Center in Lexington.