"Lawdog" Ian McMurtrie Found Not Guilty of Official Oppression

State "had reasonable doubt as to whether McMurtrie acted unlawfully".

Now-retired former Wichita County Sherriff’s Department lieutenant and sci-fi author Ian “Law Dog” McMurtrie was officially cleared of a charge of Official Oppression on Tuesday. December 20 after a quick bench trial. The accusation, speculated by some to have been politically motivated, has loomed over him since a confrontation with an inmate in March.

If you’d like a recap of what Law Dog’s been going through (and our calling B.S. on Sheriff David Duke’s snowjob), you can read it here.

A story posted on Texomashomepage.com reported the day the verdict was handed down, which includes newly released footage of the confrontation in the jail. In the Wichita Times-Record’s reporting (via Yahoo! News), McMurtrie’s lawyer Robert Estrada “presented correctional specialists, a doctor and a paramedic who all testified they did not think McMurtrie's use of force was excessive.

Senior District Judge Bob Brotherton said given the limitations of what he could see in the video, he concluded McMurtrie was not guilty.”

If you want to show your support, you can check out the plethora of anthologies McMurtrie has contributed to here.