Teen ordered to church for manslaughter

MUSKOGEE, Okla. (ABP)—An Oklahoma district court judge sparked national attention after sentencing a teenager to attend church for 10 years as a condition for avoiding prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter.

Muskogee Judge Mike Norman gave 17-year-old Tyler Alred a maximum deferred sentence of 10 years for first-degree manslaughter stemming from a single-vehicle crash last December that took the life of Alred’s passenger and friend, 16-year-old John Luke Dum.

Alred reportedly told police he had been drinking before the accident. Two breathalyzer tests showed a blood-alcohol content of 0.06 and 0.07, below the legal limit for drunkenness, but because he was underage Oklahoma law allowed for him to be considered under the influence of alcohol.

Norman decided to grant probation following an emotional sentencing hearing Nov. 13, during which Alred tearfully apologized for his actions and at one point was embraced by Dum’s father. “At that moment, it sure became a reality to me that I would sentence this boy to church,” Norman told ABC News. “There’s nothing I can do to make this up to the family.”

Norman, a member of First Baptist Church in Muskogee, has made church attendance a condition of probation before, but never on someone as young as Alred or for such a serious crime.

“I told my preacher I thought I led more people to Jesus than he had but, then again, more of my people have amnesia,” Norman said. “They soon forget once they get out of jail.”

Randall Coyne, a professor of law at the University of Oklahoma, told the Tulsa World that the church-attendance condition probably wouldn’t survive a legal challenge because of issues related to the separation of church and state, but someone would have to bring such a challenge before it is overturned.

Defense attorney Donn Baker said he had no intention of challenging the judge’s decision.

"My client goes to church every Sunday," Baker said. "That isn't going to be a problem for him. We certainly want the probation for him."

Gary Allison, a professor at the University of Tulsa College of Law, said he isn’t a big fan of requiring church attendance as an alternative to prison.

“It speaks to forcing people to do religious activities they otherwise wouldn’t do of their own free will,” Allison told a local TV station. “I don’t know why a church would want somebody to come to it under the force of government compulsion.”

Allison also said going to church is too light a penalty for a crime that results in a death. “Somebody could get the idea to come before a judge and say, ‘If you don’t send me away, I’ll go to church all the time for however long you want me to,’” he said.

Norman, 67, said he’s received a couple of calls from outside the state telling him his ruling is a violation of the U.S. Constitution.

“They may well be right, but that's what I did and we made a record," the judge said. "If someone wants to appeal my decision, they're entitled to do that."

In addition to attending church, other conditions of Alred’s probation are that he graduates from high school and welding school, submits to drug and alcohol testing, wears an ankle bracelet and speaks to groups about consequences of drinking and driving.