BY TIM WILLERT twillert@opubco.com
As recently as Jan. 31, the teenager accused of shooting eight people after an Oklahoma City Thunder playoff game declared his unwillingness to give up the gang life, telling a jail detention officer he “would be back on the streets” in as little as 15 months.
Now Avery Myers is looking at life in prison if convicted in connection with the shootings, after a judge ruled Friday that Myers will face trial as an adult.
Myers, 17, of Oklahoma City, is charged with eight counts of shooting with intent to kill, or in the alternative, eight counts of assault and battery with a deadly weapon.
The shootings took place after a May 21 game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Associate District Judge Richard W. Kirby considered testimony from five mental health experts over a four-month period before rejecting a motion by defense attorneys to have Myers certified as a juvenile.
“The court finds compelling the testimony of each of the mental health experts in this case and that none of these professionals recommend that the defendant be certified as a juvenile,” Kirby wrote in his ruling.
If convicted as a juvenile, Myers would have been released on his 19th birthday, regardless of whether he completed a treatment plan.
Among the evidence Kirby considered in making his decision were Myers' level of gang involvement, violent behavior and substance abuse.
Myers has been disciplined five times since being booked into the Oklahoma County jail on May 29, including once on the day before he was set to appear in Kirby's courtroom for the final day of testimony in his certification hearing.
“He was verbally belligerent and disrespectful to an Oklahoma County officer and threatened him with gang gestures and comments regarding ‘Tupac,' a known gang figure,” according to the judge's report.
On Dec.
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