Bobbi Parker, Warden's Wife, Faces Prison Time
As the wife of a warden, Bobbi Parker knew all about the pace of life inside the Oklahoma state reformatory where she lived in a house with her husband and daughters before disappearing 17 years ago with a convicted killer.
Now Parker is facing prison time herself, though jurors are recommending just one year for helping Randolph Franklin Dial escape - a charge that carried a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
The Greer County jury convicted Parker Wednesday of assisting Dial's 1994 escape from the southwestern Oklahoma prison her husband, who still works for the state prison system, helped supervise.
Parker, 49, showed no emotion as jurors returned their guilty verdict. She said nothing as she was handcuffed by sheriff's deputies and escorted to the county jail adjacent to the courthouse after District Judge Richard Darby denied requests for bond that would have allowed her to remain free during an expected appeal. Darby set formal sentencing for Oct. 6.
Her husband, Randy Parker, bowed his head and was comforted by family members after the 12-member jury delivered its verdict following about 14 hours of deliberation over three days. Parker, a 27-year employee of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections who now works as its security and facility operations manager, testified during the trial that he still loves his wife despite her disappearance with Dial and almost 11-year absence before they were found living together in 2005 in East Texas.
Prosecutors alleged Parker fell in love with Dial and ran off with him on Aug. 30, 1994, when her husband was deputy warden of the prison in Granite. Defense attorneys maintained that Dial drugged her, kidnapped her at knifepoint and held her hostage for more than a decade by threatening to use his alleged mob connections to harm her family if she tried to flee.
Police said they found the pair living happily as man and wife on April 4, 2005, on a chicken ranch near Campti, Texas.
Prosecutors said they were happy with the jury's decision in a trial that lasted from the spring to the edge of autumn and involved more than 80 witnesses and nearly 800 pieces of evidence.
"We're just grateful for the work of the jury to sacrifice their summer," said Assistant District Attorney David Thomas, the lead prosecutor.
District Attorney John Wampler, who filed the original charges in 2008, said he believes the verdict vindicates the prosecution.
Now Parker is facing prison time herself, though jurors are recommending just one year for helping Randolph Franklin Dial escape - a charge that carried a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
The Greer County jury convicted Parker Wednesday of assisting Dial's 1994 escape from the southwestern Oklahoma prison her husband, who still works for the state prison system, helped supervise.
Parker, 49, showed no emotion as jurors returned their guilty verdict. She said nothing as she was handcuffed by sheriff's deputies and escorted to the county jail adjacent to the courthouse after District Judge Richard Darby denied requests for bond that would have allowed her to remain free during an expected appeal. Darby set formal sentencing for Oct. 6.
Her husband, Randy Parker, bowed his head and was comforted by family members after the 12-member jury delivered its verdict following about 14 hours of deliberation over three days. Parker, a 27-year employee of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections who now works as its security and facility operations manager, testified during the trial that he still loves his wife despite her disappearance with Dial and almost 11-year absence before they were found living together in 2005 in East Texas.
Prosecutors alleged Parker fell in love with Dial and ran off with him on Aug. 30, 1994, when her husband was deputy warden of the prison in Granite. Defense attorneys maintained that Dial drugged her, kidnapped her at knifepoint and held her hostage for more than a decade by threatening to use his alleged mob connections to harm her family if she tried to flee.
Police said they found the pair living happily as man and wife on April 4, 2005, on a chicken ranch near Campti, Texas.
Prosecutors said they were happy with the jury's decision in a trial that lasted from the spring to the edge of autumn and involved more than 80 witnesses and nearly 800 pieces of evidence.
"We're just grateful for the work of the jury to sacrifice their summer," said Assistant District Attorney David Thomas, the lead prosecutor.
District Attorney John Wampler, who filed the original charges in 2008, said he believes the verdict vindicates the prosecution.
