On this date, September 15, 1975,
Clayton Chandler was shot dead by Michael Bascum Selsor. Michael Bascum Selsor
was executed by lethal injection in Oklahoma on May 1, 2012.
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Clayton Chandler
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INTERNET
SOURCE: http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/selsor1295.htm
CASE: On September 15,
1975, a U-Tote-M store in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was robbed. One of the store
employees, Clayton Chandler, was shot to death and the other, Ina Morris, was
shot and wounded. Michael B. Selsor and Richard Dodson were arrested for the
robbery and shootings. Selsor was charged in state court with robbery with
firearms; shooting with intent to kill; and murder in the first degree. Dodson
was charged with robbery with firearms, after former conviction of a felony;
shooting with intent to kill, after former conviction of a felony; and murder
in the first degree.
At
trial Ina Morris, the U-Tote-M employee wounded in the robbery, testified about
the ordeal. She stated that she had gone into the store's walk-in cooler, and
that while in there "a man walked up to the first window of the cooler and
opened it up and looked at me." She said the man then walked around to the
big walk-in door and pointed a revolver at her. He told her to get on her knees
on the floor. She testified that she "just looked at him" because she
"couldn't believe it." She said to the gunman "You've got to be
kidding." The gunman then fired a shot at her, hitting her in the right
shoulder. She got down on her knees. The gunman told her that if she looked up
he would kill her. Three to five minutes later Morris raised her head and saw
the gunman standing outside the window, holding both hands on the gun. She then
saw him pull the trigger and heard the bullets hit the window. She ducked. She
heard more than two bullets fired. Her body went numb. She lay down and lost
consciousness. She was wounded in her right shoulder, on the right side of the
back of her head, on top of her head, underneath her jaw, in her back and in
her neck. Two bullets were left in her neck. Morris regained consciousness
approximately five to seven minutes later. She walked north in the cooler and
looked out to see Clayton Chandler lying on the floor of the U-Tote-M. Mr.
Chandler died as a result of his injuries.
Morris
identified Dodson as the man who shot her. She gave no testimony about seeing
any assailant other than Dodson, nor did she testify that she heard any shots
other than those from Dodson. She did state, however, that the door to the
walk-in cooler was closed and that she heard the cooler fan, a noise she
described as "very loud." Ms. Morris was the only eyewitness to the
crime and her testimony did not implicate Selsor. The evidence against Selsor
instead was based on his and Dodson's confessions as presented through the
testimony of two police officers, Officer Evans, a major crimes investigator
for the Santa Barbara, California Police Department, and Officer Roberts of the
Tulsa Police Department. Officer Evans testified that on September 22, 1975, he
and a Sergeant Williams interviewed Dodson at the Santa Barbara Police
Department. Officer Evans testified that Dodson stated that he and Selsor were
driving a green '67 Pontiac.... He stated that they had been together in this
car on the evening of September 15th around 11:00 P.M. and had passed by this
U-TOTE-M store which he thought was located at 66th and 33rd, in that vicinity.
He stated that both of them were in the car as they passed by this store a
couple of times and Dodson stated that he noticed that the traffic was light
around the store and the outlying area and that there was a light fog or
something. He then stated that they both were armed.
....
Q And, what did he say in that regard? A Dodson was armed with a nine shot .22
caliber revolver, black and silver and Mr. Selsor was armed with a .22
automatic Lugger Blackhawk. Q Now, did he say anything in regard to any plan
concerning this matter on 33rd West Avenue other than what you have thus far
related? A Yes, he did. Q What did he say in that regard? A He stated that
prior to entering the store in a conversation with Selsor there was discussion
of taking these people out. .... Q Did he ever indicate in the conversation
what he meant by taking them out? A Later in the conversation it was shown that
taking them out meant killing them. Q And, when you use the expression, taking
these people out, did you know at the time he told you this who he had
reference to? A By name or incident? Q Well, by perhaps position with the
store? A Yes, meaning the proprietors of the store.
Officer
Evans also testified about an interview that he and a Detective Martin had with
Selsor subsequent to the interview with Dodson. Officer Evans stated that
Selsor said "that he and Dodson had approached the U-Tote-M store at 61st
and 33rd Street and they were in a green '67 Pontiac which belonged to
Selsor." Selsor stated that they "didn't intend to have any witnesses
around and had planned on killing the proprietors after the robbery." Evans
testified that Selsor said "that he was armed with a .22 caliber Lugger
Blackhawk automatic, had a nine shot clip, and that Dodson was armed with a
nine shot .22 caliber revolver." Officer Evans then recounted Selsor's
description of the robbery: Selsor stated he demanded the money in a sack and
he said the elderly gentleman complied and gave him the money from the cash
drawer, the cash register and the safe. Selsor stated that he told the guy to
quit piddling with the change as he was putting the money in, he wasn't
interested in that. I asked Selsor what then occurred and he stated that he had
off-set his position, showing me in the interview room, and fired several shots
from this .22 automatic into the elderly man. According to Evans, Selsor
"stated that all the bullets went into the chest area and it must have hit
the heart."
In
addition to the testimony of Officer Evans, Officer D.A. Roberts of the Tulsa
Police Department testified about a conversation he had with Dodson at the
Tulsa County Jail on September 30, 1975. Officer Roberts said that We started
the conversation off, I advised him I'd like to know how it went down and the
order that it happened. He related it started with a conversation between
himself and Selsor, that Selsor had said, We got to take out the witnesses
involved in this case. .... At that time I asked him if he felt Selsor really
meant that. He said, Well, he convinced me of it. He said, I thought he did, he
looked serious. The state introduced the .22 caliber revolver used by Dodson.
The .22 caliber automatic allegedly used by Selsor was not introduced. However,
Officer Roberts testified that Dodson told him Selsor threw the gun into some
body of water along Interstate 80. In addition, the state introduced spent
shell casings recovered from the crime scene which an expert testified came
from an automatic weapon.
The
defense made no opening statement. The only witness called by the defense was
Dr. Garcia, a forensic psychiatrist from Eastern State Hospital at Vinita,
Oklahoma, who testified only about Dodson's mental condition. The defense
closing argument was brief, constituting a mere two pages of the trial
transcript and in essence simply asserting that the jury should not take the
defendants' lives. Selsor was convicted of armed robbery, shooting with intent
to kill, and first degree murder. He was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment
for shooting with intent to kill, 25 years' imprisonment for armed robbery, and
for the murder conviction, he was sentenced to death. The Oklahoma Court of
Criminal Appeals affirmed Selsor's convictions and sentences except the death
sentence which was modified to life imprisonment. Dodson was convicted of
shooting with intent to kill after former conviction of a felony and robbery
with firearms after former conviction of a felony, but was acquitted of first
degree murder. Dodson was sentenced to 199 years for shooting with intent to
kill and 50 years for the armed robbery conviction.
QUOTE: Debbie
Huggins, one of Chandler's daughters, said her family has waited for almost 37
years for justice.
"Today, we got that justice," she said. "We're glad that it's finally
over. Be at peace. The race is finally over."
She said she thought about her father as she watched Selsor die.
"This was much kinder what we did to him today than what he did to
my dad," Huggins said.
AUTHOR: Debbie Huggins whose father, Clayton
Chandler was murdered by Michael Bascum Selsor on September 15, 1975. Michael
Bascum Selsor was executed by lethal injection in Oklahoma on May 1, 2012.
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