OKLAHOMA CITY – An Oklahoma County judge is maintaining the $100,000 bond set for a self-proclaimed “Second Amendment auditor” who was arrested for allegedly bringing an AR-style rifle into a metro restaurant.
Timothy Harper was arrested for allegedly bringing the rifle into a Twin Peaks the day after the new permitless carry law went into effect this month.
The police who arrested him said the law prohibiting rifles in businesses that serve alcohol didn’t change.
On Friday, Harper’s attorneys argued that his $100,000 bond isn’t appropriate for a crime that carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a $1.000 fine, and that it isn’t necessary to ensure he’ll show up in court for future hearings.
Harper’s acquaintance and Self-Defense Act instructor Adrian Otap agreed the charge is excessive.
“ I have no doubt that he is going to appear in court for his mandatory hearings,” Otap said.
He also doesn’t agree with District Attorney David Prater’s argument that Harper’s actions were racist or that he’s especially dangerous to society.
“I don’t believe that he’s racist in any way, shape or form,” Otap said. “I saw that as just being complete racial pandering, and it was quite insulting and offensive to me in all honesty.”
Prater argued Harper could not only have incited mass chaos at Twin Peaks, where families were present, but that he was trying to provoke a response from the black community in Northeast Oklahoma City when he walked up to the doors of a predominantly black church with an AR-style rifle before going to the restaurant.
“Extremely accurate,” said the Rev. T. Sheri Dickerson. She agreed, saying that in her experience, she has known Harper to target minority communities.
“The incident today that they talked about with him going into Twin Peaks, his behavior and responses were completely different than when he interacts in communities of color. He said disparaging, derogatory, and racially divisive statements,” Dickerson said.
Judge Ray Elliott, a card-carrying member of the NRA, agreed that Harper’s actions created a potential for mass chaos, and that he wasn’t using common sense.
The judge didn’t lower his bond, but he did lift the requirement that it be a cash bond. The judge did add stipulations to the bond, including that if Harper bonds out, he wear an ankle monitor and surrender his weapons.
On his way out of the courtroom, Harper only had one thing to say.
“Go eat at Twin Peaks.”
