Oklahoma beheading: Prosecutors to seek death penalty for attack suspectBy Jane Glenn Cannon
By Nolan Clay
October 1, 2014
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NORMAN � Prosecutors Wednesday decided to seek the death penalty in the grisly beheading case that has shocked the country.
Alton Alexander Nolen, 30, of Moore, was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder in the beheading. He is accused of severing a co-worker�s head with a large kitchen knife Sept. 25 after he was suspended from a food distribution plant in Moore for racial remarks.
Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn said he made the decision on punishment after meeting with the murder victim�s family Wednesday morning.
�I let them know it was my ultimate decision, but I wanted to know their feelings,� he told The Oklahoman.
He said the family felt a death sentence is appropriate. He said paperwork starting the process could be filed this week.
The district attorney said he will seek a death sentence on four legal grounds � known as aggravating circumstances.
At trial, jurors will have to agree at least one of those reasons exists or they cannot consider execution as a punishment.
Mashburn said he will allege the victim�s death was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel. He said he also will allege Nolen is a continuing threat to society, Nolen put more than one person at great risk of death and Nolen has been previously convicted of a felony involving violence against a person.
Suspect moved from hospital to jail
Nolen, a recent Muslim convert, was moved Wednesday morning from a hospital to the Cleveland County jail. At a video arraignment Wednesday afternoon, he asked for a Muslim defense attorney, if possible.
Bail was denied.
Nolen wore an orange jail-issued jumpsuit during the arraignment and appeared healthy and calm. Special Judge Michael Tupper read to him the charge � one count of first-degree murder, one count of assault and battery with a deadly weapon, and one count of assault with a deadly weapon.
Nolen is accused in the first-degree murder count of killing Colleen Hufford, 54, of Moore, during the attack at Vaughan Foods.
He is accused in first assault count of injuring Traci Johnson, 43, of Oklahoma City. He is accused in the second assault count of threatening Mark Vaughan, the company�s chief operating officer.
Vaughan, a reserve Oklahoma County sheriff�s deputy, shot Nolen to stop the attacks, authorities said.
Police said in a court affidavit he �openly admitted� to beheading Hufford and cutting and attempting to behead Johnson.
Authorities said Nolen became angry after he was suspended from his job following a complaint about racial remarks. Mashburn revealed Tuesday that Johnson, who is white, was the one who complained.
�There was an altercation about him not liking white people. There was some back-and-forth conversation with Miss Johnson and that led her to make the complaint with the HR department,� the prosecutor said.
The prosecutor said Nolen left the plant after being suspended, went to his nearby apartment to get a knife and returned to get revenge on employees he felt had oppressed him.
When asked by the judge Wednesday if he understood the charge, Nolen replied, �I understand, but I would like to have my own copy to read.�
Tupper said a copy would be delivered to his jail cell. The judge also read Nolen his rights, before telling him he was going to appoint a public defender for him.
�I want you represented right away, but if you can afford to hire your own lawyer or want to hire your own at a later time, that�s fine,� Tupper said.
When Nolen asked if the lawyer could be of the Muslim faith, Tupper said he did not know if the state public defender�s office had any Muslim lawyers.
The judge set a preliminary hearing conference for Oct. 14.
�This will be a meeting between your attorney and the district attorney�s office,� the judge explained.
Nolen, who calls himself Jah�Keem Yisrael on Facebook, will be kept in a cell by himself and will be provided a diet in accordance with his Muslim faith, a spokesman for the Cleveland County sheriff�s office said.
Nolen was booked into the Cleveland County jail at 11:45 a.m. Wednesday. He arrived under heavy guard after being released from the OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City.
He had been recuperating at the hospital from gunshot wounds.
Nolen started working at Vaughan Foods in January 2013 while at a halfway house for felons finishing prison sentences, records show. He has prior felony convictions for cocaine possession, marijuana possession and assaulting and escaping from an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper. He spent two years incarcerated in the state correctional system.
