The criminal case against the co-founders of Epic Charter Schools has stalled again, this time due to a dispute over who should be the judge in the trial.
Co-founders Ben Harris and David Chaney are accused of defrauding students of millions of dollars. They were indicted in Oklahoma County District Court in 2022 on organized crime charges, conspiracy, embezzlement, money laundering and other offenses.
On Thursday, District Judge Susan Stallings declined for the second time to disqualify herself.
Harris had requested her resignation. Defense attorney Joe White will now ask the Oklahoma County Chief Judge to remove Stallings from the case.
The attorney said he will most likely appeal to the Oklahoma Court of Appeals if the chief judge assigns Stallings the case. A decision there could take months.
Four other district judges have already disqualified themselves in this case.
Harris wants to keep Stallings out of the case primarily because she worked for District Attorney David Prater while Epic Charter Schools was under investigation.
“What is important is not the reality of bias or prejudice, but its appearance,” White said.
Prater filed the criminal complaint before he retired. Attorney General Gentner Drummond took over the prosecution last year. A top aide, Jimmy Harmon, suggested Thursday that the real reason for the disqualification request was “judge shopping.”
Stallings refused to resign, pointing out that she has not served as a prosecutor for six years. She said she was the head of Prater’s domestic violence unit and had no knowledge of the Epic investigation.
The case had already stalled because of a legal dispute with Chaney’s defense attorney, an issue that came up during the preliminary hearing on the case.
The main witness at the preliminary hearing was Josh Brock, chief financial officer of Epic Charter Schools and an affiliated private company. He also faced charges but reached a deal with prosecutors to avoid prison time.
Brock first testified against Chaney and Harris in March and was scheduled to testify again in May. After his testimony, Special Judge Jason Glidewell was expected to decide whether there was enough evidence for a trial.
Instead, the preliminary hearing was adjourned because Brock demanded that Chaney’s attorney dismiss the case.
Brock complained that Chaney’s lawyer had also been his lawyer in the past. He claimed it would be unethical for attorney Gary Wood to cross-examine him.
Wood has stated that he never represented Brock and never gave him any reason to believe so.
More: Co-founder of Epic Charter Schools arrested for financial crimes
Stallings planned to raise the issue at a hearing in July, but did not do so when asked to resign.
Prosecutors had planned to call Prater as a witness at the July hearing to testify that Wood had proposed a global settlement for all three defendants.
“Mr. Wood advised Mr. Prater that he had the authority to conduct settlement negotiations for all three defendants,” prosecutors wrote in a legal document. “The settlement negotiations included the defendants paying a substantial sum of money up front to the State of Oklahoma as compensation. … These discussions/meetings … ended shortly before Mr. Prater resigned from his position as District Attorney.”
The preliminary hearing would likely not resume until next year if Wood is removed, since Chaney could appeal that decision to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. Plus, a new attorney would need time to familiarize himself with the evidence in the case.
Epic began as a virtual charter school in 2011. It later offered a mix of virtual and in-person instruction in Oklahoma and Tulsa counties. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it enrolled more than 60,000 students. Now it’s down to about 27,000.
