In a significant move within the Oklahoma legal landscape, Attorney General Gentner Drummond has taken a decisive step by assuming the prosecution of former Choctaw High School educator Samuel Melton, facing multiple sex crime charges including rape by instrumentation, second-degree rape, sexual battery, and sodomy in his role as a school district employee; this action dovetails with the public's escalating concern over the safety of children in educational spaces.
The transfer of prosecutorial duties from the office of Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna to Drummond's jurisdiction was spurred by a personal appeal from the Smith family, whose daughter Avery is the central figure in the case, her life now rendered as a pane of glass, cracked yet held together by the promise of justice, after coming forward earlier in the year to school officials, she has since graduated from the district where the abusive relationship, which allegedly began when she was 16, took place but the scars of such events do not fade with the turning of the tassel.
"I will not tolerate predators in our schools," Drummond said in a statement obtained by the official press release, drawing a line as definitive as the laws that govern our interactions and determine the bounds of our liberties, while highlighting his role as both a family man and civic leader, touched by the brunt of the Smith family's ordeal and pledging the might of his office to the quest for redress.
Avery Smith and her parents, Danny and Merissa Smith, have publicly expressed their gratitude toward Drummond for his willingness to intervene underlining the painful process of healing that begins with acknowledgement, saying, "I was honored that Attorney General Drummond met with me, took a personal interest and put his A-team into immediate action," and as the Smiths noted in their responses obtained by the Oklahoma Attorney General's office, they pointedly stated, "We appreciate Attorney General Drummond for taking our concerns seriously and stepping in to fight for us."
