Tulsa man's 2010 murder conviction under review after deathbed confession clears his name
TULSA, OKLA (KTUL) — A Tulsa man sentenced to life in prison for a 2010 murder is now having his case re-examined by a federal judge.
This development comes after another man reportedly confessed to the crime on his deathbed in 2017, saying he wanted to make things right and help clear Channen Smith’s name.
Smith has always maintained his innocence.
At the time of the murder, Channen Smith was just 21 years old, with his whole life ahead of him. He was an athlete and a college student, working hard to build a better future for himself and his family.
His advocate calls the situation heartbreaking and says they’re holding on to hope that Smith will be home soon to finally get the second chance at life he deserves.
"He wanted to be a pilot, he was making steps towards that, he rolled into an aviation class at TCC," Shelly Davis, who's an advocate for those who say they're wrongly convicted through The Innocence Project, said. "He was an Eagle Scout in Tulsa, one of the first Eagle Scouts in north Tulsa," she continued.
Davis is determined to show the world who she says Smith really is. She describes him as a man who was building a promising future — someone with a good head on his shoulders. But since October 2010, Smith has been behind bars for a murder that both he and Davis insist he didn’t commit.
"There's nothing tying Channen to this crime," she said.
Davis said Smith's DNA was not at the crime scene, there was no weapon, no fingerprints, nothing.
"He was in the city of Claremore, spending the weekend with his girlfriend and her family at the time the shooting took place. They took a toll highway, so there would have been tolls they paid to get to where they were going. None of this was looked into," Davis said.
In 2010, court documents reveal there was a deadly altercation between two rival gang members that started at the former Comanche Park Apartments.
"Everyone came out of their apartments to witness this altercation," Davis said.
She adds, Smith was pinned for the murder, not because he was involved, but because he wasn't a gang member. She believes that's why the actual killer knew there wouldn't be any retaliation.
What tied Smith to the case, she said, was that he occasionally hung around the apartment complex where the crime happened. Court documents confirm her theory.
She also points out that the prosecution’s testimony was compelling. Davis said the state used a previous drug charge to paint Smith as someone capable of murder.
Then, in 2017, court documents say the real killer was dying of brain cancer and confessed to the 2010 killing by telling his family and two best friends, whom he told to make things right.
"He had to clear his conscious before he passed away; he showed where he disposed of the murder weapon," Davis said.
Then in 2019, Smith’s sister received a message on Facebook telling her about the confession.
Smith hired a private investigator and filed for post-conviction relief, but the court denied the request.
Still, Smith didn’t give up. Last year, he filed a federal document asking for the conviction to be overturned with a federal judge. This year, the judge issued a 108-page ruling. A judge reviewed both old and newly presented evidence.
"Basically, tearing up the state's case against him saying no juror acting reasonably would have ever found him guilty if presented with this new evidence, they said the witnesses against Channen were not credible. They were both felons facing felony charges at the time of the 2013 trial. Both had charges dropped after they testified against him that they claim there were no deals made with either of these witnesses. The other witness lied on the stand. They all lied on the stand, all of them," she said.
Davis said they're now trying to get discovery evidence from the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office.
She said she filed an Open Records Request three times to get it, but was denied all three times. She's hoping to get the records before Smith's next court date with the federal judge on June 5th.
The Attorney General's Office has until May 5th to respond to the judge.
NewsChannel 8 asked the AG's Office and the DA's Office for a comment; they both denied the request.
