Cleveland County commissioners hire law firm

Police said a 24-year-old man was shot more than 30 times at a home in Guthrie early Wednesday.

Just after midnight, Guthrie officers responding to a shots-fired call found Joseph William Angelo on the front porch of a home in the 300 block of S Oak Street. Sgt. Anthony Gibbs said Angelo, who was taken to a local hospital where he died, was shot 36 times.

Three people, who have not been identified, were seen running from the home and fled in a car. No suspect information has been released.

Angelo’s mother, Amy Walters, posted a message on her Facebook page Wednesday morning.

“Pray for my family. Pray for my sanity. I lost a son today. I love you to the moon and back Joey Angelo! May God wrap you in his arms and keep you til I see you again. Always in my heart. I can’t believe this is happening,” she wrote.

“God received another angel this morning, My son Joey Angelo. This is him and his daughter Brielle. May she know how much he loves her! Oh how I am going to miss you!”

Agents with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation are assisting the Guthrie Police Department with the investigation into the shooting.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Guthrie police at 282-3535.

A GoFund me page has been set up by Angelo’s family. To donate, go to www.gofundme.com/ joey-angelo-funeralfund.

Cleveland County commissioners have hired an outside law firm to represent them in a lawsuit filed against them by Sheriff Joe Lester over jail funding shortages.

To avoid conflicts of interest, the case has been assigned to a Carter County associate district judge.

Judge Thomas Baldwin will hear the case in Cleveland County, once court dates are set, officials said.

Hiring the Fellers Snider Law Firm to handle the case on behalf of commissioners is necessary because the commissioners’ attorneys, Carol Dillingham and John Pevehouse, who sometimes also represent the sheriff in lawsuits, cannot represent opposing sides in an inter-county lawsuit.

Lester already has hired outside counsel, Michael Denton, who filed the lawsuit March 23 on Lester’s behalf. The sheriff contends in the lawsuit that he is facing a $1.1 million shortfall by the end of the fiscal year and that the commissioners are failing in their statutory duties to fund the jail fully.

Denton submitted a requisition request at the county commissioners’ meeting on Monday, seeking $1,601 in legal fees. Commissioners denied the request, saying they have not approved a contract for Denton’s services.

Approved on Monday was a contract with the Fellers Snider Law Firm to represent the commissioners. According to the terms of the contract, three attorneys — Mark Stonecipher, Greg Castro and Blaine Nice — will be assigned the case, as well as legal assistants.

According to the contract, the hourly rate for Stonecipher is $335. Castro’s hourly fee is $320, and Nice charges $270 per hour. Legal assistance, when needed, will bill at the rate of $175 per hour.

Commissioner Rod Cleveland said Tuesday that taxpayers will be footing the bill for the expense of the lawsuit for both the sheriff’s attorney fees and the commissioners’, because the county’s liability insurance company already has declined coverage.

“There is no good outcome when you try to resolve an issue through a lawsuit,” Cleveland said. “And it makes no sense when you are having funding problems, to sue yourself. Essentially, that’s what the sheriff is doing.”

He said commissioners have tried to work with the sheriff to resolve funding issues, “but then he hit us with this lawsuit. He’s never put together a plan to show us what’s needed and where. We can’t just put money in his account. By law, we can’t do that.”

The sheriff has declined to comment on the lawsuit.