A grand jury made up of Kingfisher County residents will be convened at the county courthouse beginning at 8:30 a.m. July 21 to investigate a fatal Hennessey shooting during an altercation five years ago outside a children’s birthday party.

District Judge Paul Woodward signed an order Wednesday setting the date in response to a successful effort launched by James Everett Jones and Lindsey Jones of Hennessey, who filed a petition in Kingfisher County District Court May 9 on behalf of “Citizen Residents of the County of Kingfisher, State of Oklahoma, Petitioning for an Order Directing a Grand Jury Be Convened.”

Oklahoma is one of only six states allowing citizens to convene a grand jury by filing a district court petition and then collecting a required number of signatures of county registered voters within 45 days.

The required number is 16% of county voters who cast ballots in the last gubernatorial election, which for Kingfisher County is 781.

After a required review by Kingfisher County Election Board Secretary Shawna Butts, 942 of the signatures collected by petition organizers in the 45-day window were deemed valid, prompting Woodward’s order.

A pool of 40 prospective jurors will be summoned to appear July 21, according to Woodward’s order, from which 12 jurors and three alternates will be selected.

Unlike a trial jury, a grand jury has the power to determine whether probable cause exists to bring a criminal indictment, but does not decide guilt or innocence.

Meeting behind closed doors, the grand jury will have the ability to view any evidence it requests, including documents, physical evidence and testimony from witnesses.

State law doesn’t specify the number of days a grand jury will be required to meet and whether those days will be consecutive. Presumably the length of jurors’ service would be determined by the scope of the investigation as it unfolds.

According to state statutes, a prosecutor from either the district attorney’s office or state attorney gen-eral’s office will be assigned to provide legal guidance, question witnesses and prepare criminal charges if the grand jury ultimately votes to issue an indictment.

Christopher Shane Robinson, 33, died in an Enid hospital from gunshot wounds suffered May 9, 2020, while at a party at the residence of Trevor Gritz about 1.5 miles north of State Highway 51 on Cemetery Road near Hennessey.

According to a story in the May 13, 2020, edition of the KT&FP, then-Kingfisher County Sheriff Dennis Banther, who retired last year, said Robinson’s body had been transported to the state medical examiner’s office in Oklahoma City for forensic investigation and interviews with witnesses were ongoing. He said his office had recovered the firearm, but declined to name the make and caliber at the time of that story.

The shooting suspect, whom Banther also declined to identify pending further investigation at the time, was questioned by authorities and then released.

However, Banther did tell the KT&FP that he believed a rollover accident that occurred shortly after the shooting about two miles north of Hennessey on U.S. Highway 81 was related to the shooting incident.

According to an Oklahoma Highway Patrol report, Benjamin Millis of Waukomis was driving a 2015 Toyota Tundra with Bobbi Jo Millis of Waukomis, Michael Porter of Guthrie and a then-4-year-old girl as passengers when the vehicle left the roadway to the right and rolled an undetermined number of times before coming to rest in the west field.

Porter was transported by helicopter to OU Medical Center where he was admitted in critical condition with a head injury. Bobbi Millis and the child were transported by Kingfisher Fire and Rescue to Bass Baptist Hospital in Enid where they were treated for injuries and released.

Benjamin Millis was not injured, according to the report.

As for the investigation, multiple people were present at the time of the shooting and interviews were ongoing, Banther told the KT&FP.

The shooting and subsequent car crash may have been related to a verbal altercation in the road outside a child’s birthday party and the altercation may have involved several people in addition to the shooting victim and the shooter, Banther said.

Contrary to Facebook accounts shortly after the incident, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation had not been brought in on the case, which was being investigated by the sheriff’s office and OHP, Banther said.

He said once both agencies completed their reports, they would be submitted to the Kingfisher County District Attorney’s Office to determine what charges were warranted.

No charges were ever filed.

According to the petition filed last month, Millis drove by the party at the Gritz residence, which was taking place on the front lawn, at “a high rate of speed.”

The petition stated the house was “well away from the road,” but added “there were several children at the party and occupying the area close to the county road.”

According to the petition, “Mr. Gritz may have thrown a beer bottle or can in the direction of the vehicle driven by Benjamin Millis, as a way to reprove Millis for driving by his home at night at a high rate of speed.”

The petition said Millis stopped the vehicle down the road and eventually backed up to the north driveway of the residence.

It was at that time, according to the petition, that Robinson and other men at the party approached the vehicle “to investigate why Mr. Millis had backed up his vehicle after already passing.”

The petition then states there was a verbal exchange between Millis and some of the men standing by the driver’s side window, which he had rolled down and unlocked and that one man “stood harmlessly at the driver’s side passenger window conversing with the backseat passenger.”

“Without warning and unprovoked, Mr. Millis then pointed the pistol out his driver’s side window at the men who had approached his window and repeatedly pulled the trigger on the loaded pistol, firing several bullets indiscriminately toward the group of partygoers,” according to the petition.

Three of the bullets, according to the petition, struck Robinson.

After being approached by Sierra Robinson, the wife of the man who was shot, asking why Millis shot her husband, the petition states Millis said, “I’m sorry.”

The petition also states Millis “began to read to the persons at the party a statement found on the back of the card related to his concealed carry permit explaining that the shooting was in self defense.”

The petition calls the assertion of self defense “erroneous” due to a number of acts immediately preceding the shooting and that Millis’ actions constitute first degree murder.

According to Banther, the investigation lasted for several months and the sheriff’s report on file doesn’t paint the same picture of exact events as the petition.

He said several findings from the investigation contradict some of the statements made in the petition.

“We’ve got no issues speaking with the grand jury on this case,” Banther told the KT&FP. “It was fully investigated at the time and it took several months.

“There were occasions when the district attorney asked for more information in certain areas and we thoroughly investigated further to get that information and get it back to them.”

Mike Fields was the district attorney at the time of the investigation. He has since retired.

John Salmon was the assistant district attorney in Kingfisher County. He is now with the Cleveland County District Attorney’s Office.