WALTERS – The state multicounty grand jury has called for removal of Cotton County Commissioner Micah Lee Woods, who is accused of embezzlement. And in a related criminal matter, the judge presiding over Woods’ felony proceeding stepped away from the case last week.
Grand jurors in the ouster action accused Woods of oppression in office, corruption in office, and willful maladministration, The Oklahoman reported Monday. They have asked a judge to order his suspension immediately, according to The Oklahoman.
The grand jury’s civil accusations of corruption in office and willful maladministration were related to the felony embezzlement charge. The accusation of oppression in office was related to allegations of misconduct toward other county officials, specifically County Clerk Joseph Schappert and Emergency Management Director Lori Hedges, who also is a reserve deputy sheriff and arrested Woods after his embezzlement charge was filed Jan. 9.
Associate District Judge Michael C. Flanagan recused himself from Woods’ felony case on Nov. 9 – the same day the grand jury called for the commissioner’s removal from office – at the private, in camera behest of Woods’ attorney, Carl J. Buckholts of Duncan.
Buckholts asked Flanagan to disqualify himself as the judge in Woods’ criminal case “for the reason that [Flanagan] knows everyone and is too familiar with the parties and the facts of this case.”
In his Order of Disqualification filed Nov. 9 in Cotton County District Court, Flanagan wrote that the request for recusal “is not based on any specific claims of bias, prejudice, or partiality under the common law,” nor on any provisions listed in the Oklahoma Statutes.
Even so, Flanagan decided for his “own reasons” that it would be “in the best interests of justice” to disqualify himself as judge in Woods’ case.
“The law states that even though a judge may personally believe himself to be unprejudiced, unbiased, and impartial, he should nevertheless certify his disqualification where there are circumstances of such a nature to cause any doubt as to his partiality, bias, or prejudice,” Flanagan explained.
The presiding judge of Judicial District 5, Emmit Tayloe of Lawton, will assign another judge to the case.
Woods, 62, of Walters, is accused of using county employees during work hours, and in the Cotton County District 1 barn at 1124 W. Colorado Ave. in Walters, “to build campaign signs for his personal use for his re-election” campaign last November.
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Joe Kimmons said in an affidavit that he interviewed all District 1 employees and several of them “admitted they helped Woods build campaign signs on county time during the workday around June 2022” at the District 1 headquarters.
After Woods was read his Miranda rights, he was interviewed “and denied he allowed or asked employees to make campaign signs while they were on county time,” Kimmons wrote in a sworn affidavit.
“There is sufficient evidence to support a finding of probable cause” that Woods committed the crime, Associate District Judge Dennis L. Gay ruled on July 21 after a preliminary hearing.
Woods pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on Aug. 14. But that same day Buckholts filed a motion to quash the criminal charge.
The preliminary hearing “was conducted in such a manner as to deprive [Woods] of due process of law as set out and guaranteed by” the U.S. and Oklahoma Constitutions, Buckholts argued.
He further claimed that during the preliminary hearing the prosecution “wholly failed to meet its burden of proof … because the State failed to show that the crime of embezzlement” was committed in Cotton County “and failed to show proper cause to deliver [Woods] guilty thereof.”
Additionally, Gay committed errors of law during the preliminary hearing, Buckholts claimed in his motion to nullify the criminal charge but provided no specifics.
Woods, a Republican, was first elected in 2018 and beat his Democratic opponent by a 2-to-1 margin in the 2022 general election.
Woods is free on $10,000 bond, court records indicate. His next appearance in district court is scheduled for Feb. 8, 2024. His case was set for the April 2024 jury trial docket in Cotton County.