By James Beaty
A special prosecutor filed a misdemeanor charge against McAlester businessman Wayne Stipe on Thursday, accusing him of committing assault and battery against Harold King outside a McAlester grocery store last year.
Wayne Stipe is the son of the late Francis Stipe, and the nephew of the once-powerful state senator, Gene Stipe.
King is the operator of a Web site known as the McAlester Watercooler, www.mccooler.net.
Assistant District Attorney David M. Wilkie filed the charge at the Pittsburg County court clerk’s office on behalf of District 8 District Attorney Mark Gibson, whose district includes Kay and Noble counties.
The offense allegedly occurred on Aug. 9, 2008, at 601 E. Wyandotte Ave. in the parking lot of the Country Mart store in McAlester.
Stipe is accused in the charge of “hitting Harold King in the mouth with his fist with force and violence and with the unlawful intent to do victim corporal hurt and bodily injury.”
Stipe faces a maximum sentence of up to 90 days in the county jail, a $1,000 fine, or both, if convicted.
Although the charge has been filed in Pittsburg County, because that’s where the offense allegedly occurred, it will be prosecuted by Gibson’s office.
Gibson’s District 8 District Attorney’s office became involved after District 18 District Attorney Jim Bob Miller recused his office from handling the matter.
Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson’s office then appointed Gibson to serve as special prosecutor in the case.
Also on Thursday, in a separate matter, Edmondson’s office reached an agreement with Miller, agreeing to defer prosecution on a charge of common barratry, or “exciting groundless judicial proceedings.”
As a condition of the deferred prosecution, Miller will not seek reelection as district attorney, the attorney general’s office said.
The matter regarded a subpoena delivered to King last year, demanding information to identify 35 people who had posted on a Web Site, which had included postings critical of Miller.
“It’s our opinion that the district attorney did not have the authority to issue that subpoena,” said attorney general’s spokesman Charlie Price.
