Anyone who has not been involved in the American legal system cannot fully appreciate the applicable idiom, “the wheels of justice turn slowly, but grind exceedingly fine.”

Monday was another example of the long and arduous process of jurisprudence.

To be sure, it took longer for Sequoyah County Sheriff ’s Office deputies to escort Stacy Lee Drake from his cell in the Sequoyah County Jail to District Judge Timothy King’s courtroom than the proceedings themselves.

After Drake’s attorneys entered a “not guilty” plea on their client’s behalf for the June 2024 slayings of Tara Underwood and Taylor Sharp at LaFerry’s Propane on U.S. 64 near Gans and of Phillip Emerson at his El Reno home, King set a trial date for 1:30 p.m. September 8 in Judge Jeffrey Payton’s court.

Then Drake, wearing an orange jumpsuit and shackled by handcuffs, waist chains and leg cuffs, retraced his steps back to his jail cell for another two-month wait.

It has been two months since state prosecutors concluded two days of often-damning and sometimes emotional testimony that convinced Judge Matt Orendorff there was enough evidence to proceed to trial for the firstdegree murders of Underwood, 35, and Sharp, 30, on June 18, 2024. The trial will also adjudicate the June 15, 2024, first-degree murder of Emerson, 56.

Drake, 51, is the convicted felon from Alabama who terrorized residents in three states during a five-week crime spree that began with the May 14, 2024, homicide of a 62-yearold man in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and reached its zenith with the three Oklahoma murders before ending on June 20, 2024, with his capture in Arkansas following a massive two-day manhunt.

Drake was charged on June 21, 2024, in the deaths of Underwood and Sharp. He was then charged on August 7 in Emerson’s death in Sequoyah County rather than Canadian County where El Reno is located in order to demonstrate a pattern of criminal offenses.

Drake faces eight felony counts — three counts of first-degree murder, three counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon, possession of a stolen vehicle and a pattern of criminal behavior.

If found guilty at trial, Drake faces the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In his brief return to court, Drake sat stoic alongside his attorneys. Likewise, he was solemn and showed no emotion when he was escorted to and from the courtroom.

During the preliminary hearing in May, many of the state’s 21 witnesses were able to unequivocally identify Drake as the man who infiltrated the El Reno Alcoholics Anonymous group and befriended members, and who was then captured on video at LaFerry’s exiting the business before driving away in Underwood’s car; at a convenience store in Alma, Ark., where cellphones were found in a trash receptacle; and at a motel in Morrilton, Ark., where he was captured and brought back to Sallisaw.

The tangled web

Drake is a convicted felon with a long list of crimes, including burglary, kidnapping, armed robbery and aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer. In addition to the three Oklahoma homicides, police said Drake was also named in an Alabama warrant for a May 15, 2024, homicide of a 62-year-old man in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Drake was sentenced in Alabama to serve 22 years in prison in 2010 after being convicted of carjacking, being a felon in possession of a firearm and brandishing a firearm during the carjacking. Drake was accused of threatening a man with a .45 caliber pistol as the man left a small grocery store. Drake stole the man’s wallet, food and truck. He was chased by police for eight miles before he wrecked the truck and was apprehended. He served 10 years of the 22-year sentence.

But once released from prison, Drake allegedly continued his lawlessness, which began with the homicide of Qundarius Young, a homeless man in Fairfield, Ala. A Glock 30 .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun owned by Young was not found at the Alabama crime scene, but was found in Drake’s possession when he was captured in Arkansas.

Then as he made his way west, Drake is accused of committing a home invasion robbery and assaulting two people in Fort Smith before continuing on to El Reno where Emerson’s body was found. The 1994 Chevrolet extended cab pickup driven by Emerson was missing, but was found the following day in Sallisaw, “3 to 3½ miles, the way the crow flies, from La-Ferry’s.”

An exhaustive OSBI investigation reconstructed the three-day timeline from when the pickup was abandoned and the double murders occurred at LaFerry’s.

A campsite was discovered in the I-40 median at South 4670 Road, referred to as “Central High Road,” which was “approximately 500 to 600 yards from LaFerry’s.” Found at the wooded campsite were “items such as cans of peanut butter, spoons and forks, which is kind of surprising at this part of the interstate, because there’s not much trash out there,” according to the OSBI report. Also found at the campsite were 30 spent .45-caliber cartridge cases. Eleven bullets were subsequently extracted from trees near the campsite, bullets that the OSBI said matched those that killed Underwood, Sharp and Emerson.

Sequoyah County was tied to El Reno when an “extremely bright” purple medallion, or Alcoholics Anonymous challenge coin, along with torn-up pieces of an El Reno AA card were found at the campsite.

Then on June 18, surveillance video at La-Ferry’s showed Drake arriving on foot, leaving in Underwood’s 2016 GMC Acadia, returning to the crime scene and then leaving in the Acadia a final time.

OnStar tracked Underwood’s Acadia to the Alma Travel Mart where four cellphones were found in a trash receptacle. In addition, video surveillance at the convenience store showed Drake wearing “the exact same clothing as he was wearing at LaFerry’s,” purchasing gasoline and then driving off in the Acadia.

Later that day, the front desk clerk for the Motel 6 in Morrilton, Ark., assisted Drake at registration, at which time he presented his driver’s license which showed his full name and an Alabama address. The clerk’s identification of Drake also included the same clothing he was seen wearing in videos from LaFerry’s and the Alma Travel Mart.

Drake was then later shown on surveillance video at the Morrilton Walmart purchasing “mostly sporting goods, equipment and clothing,” as well as camping gear.

When authorities discovered the stolen Acadia on June 19, inside the vehicle was a letter bearing the name Tara Huber (aka Tara Underwood). The motel room where Drake spent the previous night was searched, but Drake had already left.

On June 20, 2024, Drake was captured at a wooded campsite less than a mile from the motel. Found at the campsite were a purple camouflage gun holster and a cheetah or leopard- print Coach purse or wallet, which belonged to Underwood; an Oklahoma debit card, Cherokee Nation Citizen identification card and Arkansas driver’s license imprinted with the name Tara Huber (Underwood); an Arkansas commercial driver’s license bearing Sharp’s name; the Glock handgun; a Motel 6 room keycard; a Walmart receipt; clothing Drake was wearing when seen on video surveillance; and a computer tablet that included two YouTube videos entitled “100 Greatest One-liners Before the Kill” and “100 Greatest One-liners After the Kill.”

When Drake was extradited to Sequoyah County and booked into the Sequoyah County Jail on June 21, 2024, deputies informed Drake he was being charged with three counts of murder and robbery with a dangerous weapon. But Drake took exception to the three murder charges against him, arguing, “There was only two people in the place,” an utterance District Attorney Jack Thorp said during the preliminary hearing proved particularly damning.