Former Oklahoma elected official sentenced for involuntary manslaughter

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.

Prosecutors said at the time of the crash, Kirby was under the combined influence of alcohol, marijuana, tramadol, trazodone, amphetamines, citalopram, and oxycodone and was unable to complete field sobriety tests administered by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma prosecuted the case because the defendant is a member of a federally recognized Indian tribe and the crime occurred in Indian County.

Kirby served in the Oklahoma State House of Representatives before resigning amid sexual harassment allegations and was serving on the Eufaula City Council when he was indicted in the death of Bichsel. He has since resigned from the city council.

Kirby could serve has much as eight years in prison, according to federal law.