By: Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — An ex-convict with a history of burglary and drug convictions has been charged with attempting to strangle a woman with whom he had been living in his trailer home in the 1200 block of E. Pecan in Cushing.
Johnathan Michael Watkins, 38, whose first name has also been spelled as Jonathan, remains in the Payne County Jail on $20,000 bail pending a July 1 court appearance when he can seek a preliminary hearing on a felony charge of domestic assault and battery by attempted strangulation.
Watkins was arrested at his residence at 6:41 a.m. on June 11 by Cushing Police Officer Alex Gegen, court records show.
About 40 minutes earlier, the Cushing officer was sent to the trailer, where he talked to a woman outside, who said “John had attempted to choke her,” Gegen’s affidavit alleged. “She showed me her neck and I observed a red mark on the left side of her throat with scratch marks,” the Cushing officer wrote in his affidavit.
“Sgt. Ford and I entered the residence in an attempt to make contact with Watkins,” who finally yelled “What?” the Cushing officer wrote in his affidavit.
Master Patrol Officer Jonathan Hall made contact with Watkins, who came out of a bedroom, the affidavit said.
“Watkins stated he woke up to find (the woman) in his residence. He said that he told (her) to leave multiple times,” the affidavit alleged.
Asked how the marks on the woman’s neck appeared, “Watkins stated ‘I have no idea,"” the affidavit alleged.
The woman “stated that she was staying on the porch of the residence since she was moving out. She informed me that Watkins had let her in the residence,” at about 11 p.m. the previous night, the Cushing officer alleged in his affidavit.
“She stated she started to gather her belongings when Watkins woke up,” and began to yell at her to get out, the affidavit alleged.
“She said Watkins then grabbed her and began to choke her. She said he let go; then she went to the kitchen where she called police,” the affidavit alleged.
She said “Watkins had gotten angry with her in the past, but it had never gotten physical,” the affidavit alleged.
“Watkins stated he did not know how (she) got into the house since both of the doors were locked. He said he does not believe that he let her in. Watkins said that his son had left prior to the argument to get cigarettes for him,” the affidavit alleged.
According to Payne County court records and the state Department of Corrections, Watkins had previously been convicted of:
* second-degree burglary in Cushing in 2009, for which he was placed on three year’ probation in 2009;
* drug possession within 1,000 feet of a park or school in 2013, for which in 2014 he was given a 180-day jail term followed by nine and one-half years of probation that was revoked in 2015 to a five-year prison term of which he served about three years and two months prior to his release in March of 2018;
* marijuana possession in 2013, for which in 2014 he was given a concurrent 180-day jail term followed by nine and one-half years of probation that was revoked in 2015 to a concurrent five-year prison term of which he served about two years and ten months.
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