Prosecutor to review criminal probe involving 5-year-old girl murdered by custodial dad (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)

Another killer dad who should never have been granted custody by the authorities. Dad is SEAN BROOKS.

http://www.necn.com/03/11/12/Okla-prosecutor-to-review-probe-of-littl/landing_nation.html?&apID=d9a313f363cc4cf18b0339fde02607e1

Okla. prosecutor to review probe of little deathMar 11, 2012 3:13pm

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Prosecutors will review the results of an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation probe into the death of a 5-year-old girl to see if there was any criminal wrongdoing on the part of Department of Human Services employees.

Richard Smothermon, the district attorney for Lincoln and Pottawatomie counties, in August requested that the OSBI look at the events leading to the June 4 death of the girl, Serenity Deal, and decisions that were made while she was in the department's custody.

Smothermon told The Oklahoman that the OSBI delivered its report and two boxes of information on Tuesday.

"I will look for any evidence of any criminal wrongdoing on the part of DHS workers," he said.

An autopsy report concluded that the girl died of a head injury and had suffered other injuries, including fractured ribs.

Serenity died less than a month after she began living full time with her father, Sean Brooks, at the recommendation of DHS child-welfare workers, even though records show that she suffered injuries while visiting him. According to a report in her case, the Department of Human Services got involved in the girl's care because her mother had been accused of molesting a boy.

Brooks, 32, pleaded guilty in December to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

After Serenity's death, the Department of Human Services suspended four employees involved in her case and eventually fired two of them.

Employee Donald Wheeler committed suicide, and his supervisor, Wes Priest, quit. Child welfare specialist Randy Lack and supervisor Jennifer Shawn were fired, but both are appealing their terminations to the Oklahoma Merit Protection Commission.

The agency concluded that Lack and Shawn failed to make full background checks of Serenity's father and failed to fully inform the judge overseeing Serenity's case. They have denied wrongdoing. Shawn has said they are being made "scapegoats for this."

Their attorney, Pete Serrata, said both fully cooperated in the inquiry.

"We're hopeful that the agents will come to the truth of the matter regarding how the entirety of the system failed, beyond DHS," Serrata said.

"The way the system's supposed to work is DHS does their job. It is supposed to go to the DA who does his job, who then takes it to the judge who is supposed to do his job," he said. "In this case, I think what you're going to find ... is that there were failures in all three sections."