TULSA, Okla. — David Ware is charged with murder for the killing of Tulsa Police Sgt. Craig Johnson.
Ware is accused of shooting and killing Johnson during a traffic stop on June 29, 2020.
Johnson, 45, spent time as a training officer and dedicated part of his career to combating copper thefts in the city. His work inspired state legislation that strengthened Oklahoma's laws pertaining to scrap metal theft.
Johnson received the Tulsa Police Department Purple Heart before he died.
In 2021, Tulsa lawmakers honored Johnson by renaming a portion of Highway 169 "the Sergeant Craig Johnson Memorial Highway."
In 2022, Oklahoma legislators passed and Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill into law dubbed the "Craig Johnson Act" in response to the prosecution of Matthew Hall, the man said to have helped Ware after Johnson's murder. Prosecutors charged Hall with Accessory to a Felony as opposed to Accessory to a Murder because Johnson didn't die until several hours after the shooting, by law ruling the latter charge out. The new law allows for Accessory to Murder to be on the table "if the person knew or reasonably should have known that the conduct committed upon the victim could foreseeably result in the death of the victim."
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