Randolph Dial Waives His Right to a Preliminary Hearing

Randolph Dial, a convicted killer who disappeared from a southwestern Oklahoma prison with the wife of an assistant warden nearly 11 years ago, waived his right to a preliminary hearing Monday on an escape charge.
Greer County Associate District Judge Mike Warren bound Mr. Dial over for trial on an amended charge of escaping from Department of Corrections custody and scheduled an Aug. 4 formal arraignment.
Mr. Dial was mostly silent, answering "Yes" when addressed by the judge until he was informed of the amended charge.
"I don't understand what the difference is between the two things," Mr. Dial said.
Prosecutors said that the amended charge includes new information about aliases Mr. Dial used while he was on the lam, but that the punishment range of two to seven years was the same as the original charge.
Clad in a blue inmate shirt and dark pants, Mr. Dial was escorted into the courthouse where Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers, sheriff's deputies, Mangum police officers and Department of Corrections officers lined the halls. A law enforcement officer sat behind him during the proceeding.
"Every time he comes back, it ties up a lot of resources," District Attorney John Wampler said.
Mr. Dial had been on the lam with Bobbi Parker, wife of former deputy warden Randy Parker, since Aug. 30, 1994, when FBI agents acting on a tip raided his home near Campti, Texas, on April 4 and arrested him. Mrs. Parker was found unharmed, working on a nearby chicken farm.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation continues to look at whether Mr. Dial abducted Mrs. Parker when he escaped from the Oklahoma State Reformatory in Granite and kept her captive by threatening to harm her family, or if the 42-year-old mother of two willingly helped him escape and avoid arrest. Mr. Dial, 60, told authorities that he had taken her against her will. Mr. Dial, a sculptor and painter, was convicted of the 1981 murder of a karate instructor. Mrs. Parker has reunited with Mr. Parker and their daughters, who were 8 and 10 when she disappeared. Mr. Parker is now warden at the William S. Key Correctional Center at Fort Supply in Oklahoma.
See the orginal story from April 6, 2005.