Ex-Tulsa Sheriff Pleads Guilty to Misdemeanor

TULSA, Okla. (CN) - Former Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz pleaded guilty and no contest Friday to misdemeanor charges relating to the controversial shooting death of Eric Harris that led to his resignation last year.

Glanz pleaded no contest to one count of refusal to perform an official duty and guilty to one count of willful violation of the law. He immediately received a one-year suspended sentence, the Tulsa World newspaper reported.

Glanz did not respond to reporters' questions as he exited the courtroom after the hearing. He was accompanied by his wife, Deborah Glanz.

Glanz resigned last September after a grand jury issued the indictments and returned ouster proceedings against him. The refusal to perform an official duty charge related to Glanz failing to timely release a 2009 report into whether former volunteer reserve deputy Robert C. Bates was given favorable treatment.

A wealthy, white insurance executive, Bates was convicted of second-degree manslaughter and sentenced to four years in state prison for mistaking his gun for his Taser and shooting Harris, a restrained black man, to death in a traffic stop during an illegal gun sale sting.

Bates had donated several vehicles, guns and stun guns since he became a reserve deputy in 2008.

A released body camera video showed Harris running away from deputies as they pulled up to his vehicle. He was chased down, held to the ground and a single gunshot is heard.

Bates can be heard apologizing as Harris screamed that he has been shot.

As Harris screamed that he couldn't breathe, an officer said, "Fuck your breath."

Three of Bates' supervisors were transferred after they refused to sign papers that he had received state-required training, the Tulsa World reported. The unidentified deputies were ordered to falsify Bates' training records to give him credit for field training he never took, and for firearms certifications he should not have received, multiple anonymous sources told the newspaper.

The willful violation of law count accused Glanz of taking a $600 monthly stipend for county travel while using county-owned vehicles for such travel.

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