January 26, 2018
By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –
Relieved and tired following over two-year’s of preparatory work for the Jeremy Doss Hardy murder trial, the District Attorney for Western Oklahoma has little time to rest up.
Angela Marsee recently spent some time with Paragon Communications reflecting on the last two years and 30 days of her life – much of it spent revolving around the Hardy case.
The Custer County trial was the most highly anticipated murder case in recent memory and the most anxious and notorious as prosecutors were seeking the death penalty.
Seemingly, at the last minute before the trial was scheduled to start on Tuesday, January 16, a day following a federal holiday, Hardy pleaded guilty to a number of felonies including two counts of first-degree murder.
Killed were 45-year-old Kent Powell of Arapaho and 63-year-old Billie Jean West of Lone Wolf.
39-year-old Jeremy Doss Hardy, from Pasadena, Texas, pled guilty of going on a drunken shooting spree on Interstate 40 on the night of December 16, 2015 and fatally shooting two drivers then fired at four semis and tried to ram another from behind. He faced a total of eight felony counts and two misdemeanors.
With over a hundred witnesses ready to be called, over 100 motions and motion responses provided in advance of the trial and court house security the tightest it has ever been in anticipation of a possible dark situation, it was being considered as the largest trial in Custer County history and one of the most notorious in Western Oklahoma’s history.
Hardy had been charged with two counts of murder in the 1st degree – malice aforethought, assault with a dangerous weapon, five counts of use of a vehicle in the discharge of a weapon, eluding police, DUI and felony: pattern of criminal offenses.
Marsee was asked what happened. What changed with Hardy and his state-appointed defensive team that made them decide to plea bargain?
Asked for a final comment, Marsee was quick to point out the crucial role that law enforcement played in the conviction of Hardy as a cold-blooded murderer. She says without great pursuit of the facts and thorough investigative work performed by dedicated law enforcement professionals, Hardy may never have been caught. He might still be walking the streets, driving the highways as a free, but pursued man, possibly terrorizing other innocent victims.
Marsee doesn’t stop there with her plaudits for law enforcement that are responsible for seeing that justice was done.
Marsee says she’s very proud of the law enforcement professionals in Western Oklahoma.
The District 2 Prosecuting Attorney that prosecutes cases covering the five counties of Beckham, Custer, Ellis, Roger Mills and Washita County is relieved and drained and the case, fortunately, is history. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that “it’s on to the next.” There’ll always be a “next.”
Tucker McGee is the 23-year-old Weatherford man that was convicted in 2012 of murder in the 1st degree in the shooting death of JaRay Wilson.
His life in prison sentence was overturned in 2016 by a higher court.
McGee was 10 days away from his 18th birthday when he shot and killed Wilson.
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