Trial reset for man accused in Tulsa police sergeant’s killing
David Ware is led away from a courtroom after an arraignment at the Tulsa County Courthouse on Nov. 2. Ware is still awaiting trial on charges in the shootings of Tulsa Police Officer Aurash Zarkeshan and Sgt. Craig Johnson. Johnson died of his injuries.
The man accused of fatally shooting a Tulsa police sergeant during a traffic stop in 2020 has a new trial date.
David Ware was set to have a jury trial in June on multiple felony charges, including first-degree murder in the slaying of Tulsa Police Sgt. Craig Johnson, but the trial was delayed to allow his attorneys additional time to prepare.
Tulsa County District Judge William Musseman on Friday solidified an April 4, 2022, trial start date with prosecutors and attorneys, with an admonishment.
“This will take more than one week,” he told them.
Musseman said he expects jury selection alone to take at least one week, if not a few days more, so he advised Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler and Ware’s attorney, Kevin Adams, that he was keeping his schedule for the month free.
He also addressed Ware, 34, to ensure that he was in agreement with Adams’ request to replace his second-chair counsel, Johnnie James, with Robert Gifford.
Ware acknowledged that the change was “fine,” and James told Musseman he was also in agreement, Musseman said, citing some kind of relational issue with Adams.
To end the status hearing Friday, Kunzweiler reminded the court that the defense has not yet shared any discovery with prosecution, despite the delay in the trial and despite the state’s having shared hundreds of pages of discovery along with other evidence such as video recordings and interviews.
Kunzweiler later said he found the matter “a bit frustrating.”
“It’s been 15 months since Sgt. Johnson lost his life and Officer Zarkeshan was shot,” Kunzweiler said. “It’s been very difficult on those families, and obviously they’ve been anxious to get moving forward, as we have.”
Adams said the reason discovery has not been shared is because the defense’s mitigation specialists are still compiling mitigation evidence.
The shooting at the center of the case occurred during the overnight hours June 29, 2020, near 21st Street and 89th East Avenue after Zarkeshan pulled Ware over for an expired tag and improper turn. Johnson backed Zarkeshan, and the officers informed Ware they intended to tow his vehicle, but he refused to get out.
Police dash cam footage shows Ware shooting Zarkeshan and Johnson after Ware refused dozens of commands from the officer and his supervisor, as well as withstood pepper spray, a Taser attempt and body strikes.
Ware can be seen on video grabbing a gun from his vehicle and firing multiple times at the officers before using two hands to stabilize his grip and firing at Johnson a final time, all within less than five seconds.
He then got a ride from his co-defendant, Matthew Nicholas Hall, whom Ware had called from his car during the traffic stop. Both were arrested later that day.
Johnson died the next day after being taken off life support at a Tulsa hospital, and Zarkeshan returned to Tulsa in mid-October 2020 after months of treatment and recovery at an out-of-state facility.
Jurors found Hall guilty of two counts of being an accessory to a felony in April, and Musseman sentenced him to 24 years in custody. He’s currently held in the Jess Dunn Correctional Center in Taft, Department of Corrections online records show.
Ware is held without bond in the Tulsa County jail.
He will next appear in court in December, when Musseman set a discovery hearing to ensure that the defense has made progress in presenting discovery.
Featured video: Tulsa mayor talks about law enforcement in the aftermath of the June 2020 shootings of two officers
Mayor G.T. Bynum gave his remarks at Nov. 19’s State of the City, recalling when two police officers were shot in June 2020.
Gallery: Case timeline for David Anthony Ware, accused in slaying of Tulsa Police sergeant
David Anthony Ware pulled over
June 29, 2020
Officer Aurash Zarkeshan initiated a traffic stop about 3:05 a.m. Monday, June 29, 2020, in the 2000 block of South 89th Ease Avenue for infractions including an improper turn and expired tags.
Sgt. Craig Johnson backed Zarkeshan, a December 2019 police academy graduate, on the stop as the subject grew increasingly obstinate, refusing to exit the car so it could be towed.
Dash cam footage, June 29
June 29, 2020
About 17 minutes later, after discussion, a Taser shock and pepper spray failed and officers began wrestling the subject from the car, the man pulled a gun from under his car seat and fired multiple rounds at the officers.
Ware then got into the car of a man he had called during the stop, and the two fled the scene.
Both officers were left in the roadway in critical condition.
Tribute to officers
June 29, 2020
“We have two officers who started fighting for their lives at 3 o’clock this morning and are still doing that right now,” Mayor G.T. Bynum said as the wounded officers were identified by city leaders.
“These are officers who have chosen to be in law enforcement at a historically challenging time.”
Impromptu shows of support began popping up around Tulsa, including gifts and notes left on a police cruiser at the Mingo Valley Division, where Johnson and Zarkeshan worked, and blue ribbons tied around telephone poles and trees.
Johnson was regarded as a veteran police officer with a compassionate heart and knack for solving citywide problems, and Zarkeshan as a man with a servant’s heart dedicated to peacekeeping.
Sgt. Craig Johnson mourned
June 30, 2020
Sgt. Johnson succumbed to his wounds Tuesday, June 30, 2020, at Saint Francis Hospital. The 15-year veteran of the department was the first line of duty death at the department since June 1996.
Tulsa police and federal law enforcement officials unveiled an initiative under Sgt. Johnson’s badge number focusing investigative and prosecution resources specifically on gun-related crimes. David Ware was accused of being a felon in possession of a gun, and another man was indicted on allegations that the gun he allegedly traded for heroin was later used to shoot Sgt. Johnson and Officer Zarkeshan.
Sgt. Johnson’s funeral
July 1, 2020
Tulsa police gave a full escort to fallen Sgt. Craig Johnson on Wednesday, July 1, 2020, as his body was taken from Saint Francis Hospital to the Medical Examiner’s Office.
Bystanders lined the streets, some exiting their cars as rush hour traffic came to a stop with their hands over their hearts, as the procession passed through south Tulsa.
Outside the BOK Center downtown that evening, what had been planned as a rally to celebrate law enforcement became an impromptu vigil for the two officers. Several officers from the Tulsa Police Department made their way to the event once the procession ended.
Update on Zarkeshan
July 7, 2020
Tulsa police shared a positive update on Officer Zarkeshan’s condition, saying the 26-year-old was continuing to improve daily.
“This morning the doctors were able to remove the breathing tube and Aurash is communicating with family and loved ones,” the statement read. “The rehabilitation is going great with his physical strength improving to the point that he can stand. He is well ahead of where the doctors expected him to be given the injuries that he sustained.”
Zarkeshan shared another update from his recovery the following month.
Matthew Hall at Tulsa County jail
July 7, 2020
Matthew Hall, facing accusations he helped David Ware escape after the shootings of Johnson and Zarkeshan, attempted to hang himself while in the Tulsa County jail. Staff reportedly found him unresponsive on his cell floor with a sheet tied around his neck.
“Medical (staff) began treatment and Hall began breathing on his own,” a detention officer wrote in an incident report.
David Ware at Tulsa County jail
July 8, 2020
Tulsa World reporters uncover public records showing Sgt. Johnson and David Ware had come face to face before; Ware’s first arrest as an adult came 14 years prior at Johnson’s hands.
A week later, Ware was assigned counsel with death penalty experience, defense attorney Kevin Adams, after the Tulsa County Public Defender’s Office filed a notice of a conflict of interest.
Ware appears in September
September 2020
Special Judge April Seibert found probable cause for David Ware to proceed to trial on charges of murder, shooting with intent to kill, drug possession with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm after a felony conviction. She also kept the July order to withhold the body and dash camera footage of the shooting from public release, despite a defense request.
Counsel remained at odds over whether the footage be released, but District Judge William Musseman ordered it be made publicly available.
Chief Franklin presents video
Sept. 14, 2020
City officials released the body and dash camera footage showing the shooting, but Chief Wendell Franklin and Mayor Bynum urged the public to refrain from watching.
“We’re supposed to be a civilized society,” Franklin said in an address to the media. “We’re supposed to be a society that is different, is modern. Yet to me, it seems as though criminals have more … rights than what you and I do. They have more rights than what our law enforcement officers do.
“You would never be allowed publicly to see the execution of a criminal, yet today you get to publicly see the execution of a police officer. What kind of society is that?”
Ware to face capital trial
Sept. 17, 2020
The Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office formally announced its intent to pursue a capital case against David Ware. District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler listed several aggravating factors in support of his office’s request for the death penalty, including that the killing of Sgt. Johnson was “especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel.”
Zarkeshan returns to Tulsa
Oct. 15, 2020
Officer Zarkeshan, who received a surprise visit from his chief while recovering out-of-state, returned to Tulsa on a day proclaimed in his honor to greet a crowd of supporters.
The next week, Zarkeshan was honored with an award named for Sgt. Johnson during his first squad meeting since the June 29 shooting.
Trial date set after not guilty plea entered Nov. 2
Nov. 2, 2020
District Judge William Musseman scheduled a weeklong jury trial for David Ware beginning June 7, but he advised counsel to block out the entire month.
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