Dan Kirby
TULSA — A former state lawmaker who resigned his office while facing expulsion from the Legislature was convicted by a federal jury June 28 of involuntary manslaughter in connection with a fatal motorcycle accident 11 months ago.
Danny Gene “Dan” Kirby, 65, is free on bond, awaiting sentencing, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Muskogee reported.
Kirby was found guilty in the death of Sheryl Bichsel, 56, a real estate broker who lived at Lake Eufaula and was identified as Kirby’s girlfriend.
According to court records, Kirby, while leaving the Fountainhead Marina Bar in Checotah the evening of July 23, 2022, after a day of partying with friends, crashed his Harley-Davidson motorcycle when turning onto Marina Road. In making the left-hand turn, Kirby “departed the road … and attempted to re-enter the roadway,” at which point he lost control of the motorcycle when its peg hit the lip of the road.
Kirby fell off the vehicle and Bichsel, his passenger, was thrown from the motorcycle. Kirby was wearing a helmet, but Bichsel was not. Bichsel was transported by life-flight helicopter to a Tulsa hospital, where she died the next morning.
Two Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers who investigated the wreck reported Kirby had minor injuries, “an odor of alcohol on his breath and glossy, blood-shot eyes.”
Kirby “agreed to perform standardized field sobriety tests but was unable to fully complete them,” the troopers wrote. During the trial, prosecutors showed video, filmed from one of the OHP trooper’s dash cam, of the field sobriety test; Kirby was unable to follow the trooper’s instructions three separate times on one part of the test.
Kirby also consented to a blood-alcohol test. A toxicology analysis performed by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation showed he had a blood alcohol content of .028 % – “which is well below the per se legal limit of 0.08%,” his attorney noted. However, the alcohol was combined with undisclosed quantities of oxycodone and tramadol, which are opioid analgesics; amphetamine, marijuana, and a couple of antidepressants, citalopram and trazodone.
Over the course of the three-day trial, prosecutors maintained Kirby was intoxicated when he wrecked his motorcycle. One witness testified that Kirby consumed several beers and mixed drinks throughout the day.
Kirby was prosecuted in Muskogee’s Eastern District federal court because he is an enrolled member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation; Bichsel, too, was a Native American; and the incident occurred in “Indian country.”
Kirby was elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives, as a Republican from Tulsa, in 2008. He served four two-year terms and was elected to a fifth but resigned in March 2017 while facing expulsion from the Legislature over allegations of sexual harassment of legislative assistants.
He returned to his hometown of Eufaula and was elected to the City Council in April 2021, but was indicted in federal court in February 2023 and resigned in March.