Former officers to argue they ‘stood their ground’ in fatal December 2021 shooting

As they await trial for the December 2021 shooting death of Quadry Malik Sanders, two former Lawton police officers are planning to use the Stand Your Ground Defense in court, records indicate.

Comanche County Presiding District Judge Emmit Tayloe has ordered a 2 p.m. Wednesday evidentiary hearing to determine if the former officers have a leg to stand on with the claim.

Nathan Michael Ronan, 31, and Robert Leslie Hinkle, 31, remain scheduled for the upcoming April/May jury trial docket to face their felony charges: Ronan is charged with shooting with intent to kill and Hinkle with first-degree manslaughter, records indicate.

The former officers’ legal counsel, Gary James, of Oklahoma City, will argue that Ronan and Hinkle were justified in using deadly force in self-defense during the Dec. 5, 2021, incident that left Sanders, 29, dead.

The Stand Your Ground Defense allows a person is justified in using deadly force in self-defense if that person reasonably believed that use of deadly force was necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm. According to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, self-defense is a defense although the danger to life or personal security may not have been real, if a reasonable person, in the circumstances from the viewpoint of the defendant, would reasonably believe their life was in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm.

Ronan and Hinkle were among several Lawton police officers responding to a call of an armed hostage situation and protective order violation against Sanders at 1806 NW Lincoln, the home of his ex-girlfriend and mother of his children, Briana Wattenberg. Ronan and Hinkle shot at Sanders after he failed to comply with their commands.

In all, Hinkle fired 15 shots and Ronan fired four.

Over the course of the case’s preliminary hearing, over three court sessions, James’ argued the officers’ reactions were the result of Sanders’ actions before raising his hands. Hinkle’s body camera video showed Sanders step back behind a refrigerator outside the home while being ordered to come forward with his hands up. At the time of the incident, witnesses told police Sanders had a gun. Earlier that morning, Ronan responded to an incident at the home that involved Sanders firing multiple rounds before leaving the scene.

After stepping behind the refrigerator, Sanders lowered his hands and was told again to show them. He was hen seen shifting a ball cap from his right hand to his left as he moved his right hand toward his pants pocket. This is when Hinkle fired a four-shot volley into Sanders.

After falling back and to the ground, video and audio showed Sanders again being ordered to show his hands and to stop reaching toward his pants pocket. Moments later, Hinkle discharged 11 more rounds and Ronan fired four.

Sanders received 12 bullet wounds to the upper and lower body that killed him, according to the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s autopsy report. The medical examiner reported finding methamphetamine in Sanders’ blood.

Ballistics testing showed that 11 wounds came from Hinkle’s gun and one was unidentifiable from either man’s gun.

Ronan had initially been charged with Hinkle in May 2022 with first-degree manslaughter but the charge was amended at the end of the Oct. 26 preliminary hearing following a motion by Comanche County District Attorney Kyle Cabelka.

Both, Ronan and Hinkle, waived ex post facto, or being held accountable for a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences of actions committed before the enactment of the law. On Nov. 1, 2023, changes to the police use of force law in Oklahoma alters the legal rules of evidence and alters the burden of proof, according to James’ filing. He argued Special District Judge Susan Zwaan made no findings addressing the changes to the state statute and their implications as an additional element to any crimes.

A motion to quash the charges against Ronan and Hinkle was filed Nov. 8, 2023, and was denied by Tayloe following a Feb. 29 hearing, records indicate.

Ronan and Hinkle were terminated from the Lawton Police Department on Jan. 7, 2022, for violating the department’s use of force policy following an internal department investigation. It followed the City of Lawton’s release of Hinkle’s body camera video to the public.

In June 2023, arbitrators found the City of Lawton had not established that the two officers used excessive or unreasonable force and called for their reinstatement. The City of Lawton is appealing the decision.

On Jan. 18, Ronan and Hinkle and the International Union of Police Associations and Local 24 filed a motion for summary judgment in Comanche County District Court regarding the arbitration.

A special hearing is slated for 1:15 p.m. April 26 before Tayloe.