OKC woman is accused of trying to bribe judge
An Oklahoma City woman has been accused of trying to bribe an Oklahoma County judge with thousands of dollars in an effort to get her son a minimum prison sentence.
Norma Castanon, 47, was charged Monday with one felony count of attempted bribery of a judicial officer.
Her son, Emmanuel Dominguez, pleaded guilty in September to a robbery and conspiracy offense, and chose to have a judge decide his punishment.
The minimum punishment for the robbery offense was 10 years in prison and two years for the conspiracy offense, records show. Life in prison was the maximum punishment for each count.
In June, District Judge Don Deason chose to sentence Dominguez to 35 years in prison for the 2013 robbery.
Dominguez, now 29, of Mississippi, later tried to withdraw his guilty plea during an Aug. 4 court hearing before District Judge Bill Graves. The hearing was in front of Graves because Deason died from a stroke in July.
Prosecutors are not accusing Deason of taking a bribe. In fact, Deason had a reputation of being very honest. At a largely attended memorial service for Deason on Aug. 3, an attorney who spoke
referred to him as “Mr. Integrity.” Deason was 63.
On Aug. 4, Castanon testified on behalf of her son. She told Graves “she sent several thousand dollars cash to attorney Tony Coleman via an intermediary identified as Saray Hernandez,” according to an affidavit written by an investigator with the district attorney’s office.
Court documents show Hernandez said she delivered $25,000 cash to the attorney in three different payments at the request of Castanon.
The investigator reported Castanon said that a portion of the money was to go to a district judge to ensure that Dominguez received a minimum sentence.
Castanon initially claimed the cash was from gambling winnings but later admitted she earned the money by being a “mule” for transporting drugs and bulk currency, the investigator reported in the affidavit.
Castanon also was charged Monday with one felony count of perjury.
Prosecutors allege that during the Aug. 4 hearing, Castanon testified she was not a felon.
Tennessee court records show Castanon pleaded guilty in February to a felony methamphetamine offense, the investigator reported.
Records also show Dominguez was convicted in 2007 in Tennessee of attempted second-degree murder.
On Monday, Coleman said he never discussed money with Castanon while he was representing her son.
“She used different people to bring money to me, but I never got any money from her directly,” Coleman said.
He said he met Hernandez when she brought money to him meant for payment for representing Dominguez.
Coleman said he only ever spoke with Castanon to discuss her son’s case.
“I never spoke with that lady alone, and I certainly never had discussion with her about taking money to bribe a judge,” Coleman said.“It was all a surprise to me . ... There’s just no way in the world that she could have misunderstood anything because that conversation never took place, and there was always someone present when I had dealings with her.”
Castanon was arrested Aug. 4. She was released from the Oklahoma County jail the same day after posting a $2,000 bond, jail officials said Monday.