UPDATE (7/30/24) — A former elected official, 66-year-old Danny Gene Kirby, was sentenced to 41 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter in Indian Country.
MUSKOGEE, Okla. − A federal jury found a former elected official guilty of involuntary manslaughter Thursday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced.
Danny Gene Kirby, 65, of Tulsa, was found guilty of one count of Involuntary Manslaughter in Indian Country.
The jury trial began with testimony on Monday and ended Wednesday.
During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Kirby caused the death of his passenger, Sheryl Bichsel, while driving a motorcycle under the combined influence of drugs and alcohol, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a press release.
On July 23, 2022, in McIntosh County, Kirby and Bichsel left a bar on Kirby’s motorcycle. A short distance from the bar, Kirby left the roadway while making a turn. He lost control of the motorcycle attempting to re-enter the roadway, throwing his passenger from the bike, prosecutors said. Emergency responders life-flighted the victim to a Tulsa hospital, where Bichsel was pronounced dead the following morning.