By Patti Weaver

 

  (Stillwater, Okla.) — A gunman, who testified he was acting in self-defense during a fatal shooting outside Headliners Barber Shop in downtown Stillwater, was acquitted of first-degree manslaughter of Landon Ray Aufleger, 25, of Stillwater, by a Payne County jury that deliberated for six hours before returning a verdict at 10 pm Friday.
    The defendant, Darrin Joseph Bacchus, 26, of Stillwater, had been severely beaten by four men inside the barber shop while he was waiting to get a haircut, he told the jury of seven men and five women. Bacchus testified that he was punched, had a broken nose, and got strangled while he was on the ground in the barber shop at 12th and Main St.
    “I got up, stumbled. As I was walking out the door, I was hit two more times. I heard someone say, ‘go get the gun.’
    “Nobody tried to help. Nobody took anybody off me. Nobody tried to prevent it,” Bacchus told the jury.
    Asked why he shot his gun after he got outside, Bacchus said “because I didn’t want to die.” Asked why he still felt in danger, Bacchus said, “because of the comment about the gun. I couldn’t leave — his car was behind me. Running away leaves me open. I have four people against me.”
    Bacchus retrieved a 9 mm gun from his car and fired about seven shots at a fleeing car driven by Aufleger, who was raising a gun, he testified.
    Aufleger was found dead inside his car a block away with a gun on the floorboard at about 5:30 pm on April 14, 2022, authorities said.
    Bacchus told the jury Friday, “I was going to get shot. I knew it was one of the individuals who assaulted me.
    “I kept shooting till he drove off. I didn’t get shot at. I was about to. It was a gun getting raised.
    “This wasn’t something where he (Aufleger) and me had any type issues,” Bacchus testified — adding he thought Aufleger was helping his friends.
    “I hate that a life was taken. I don’t think I ever even had a conversation,” with Aufleger, Bacchus told the jury.
    Four days earlier, Bacchus and Khalil Dickerson, 27, had gotten in a dispute in text messages about how Dickerson was parenting his son, Bacchus testified.
    Bacchus, whose parents from Alabama attended his trial, was living in Stillwater with his baby’s mother, who also had a child by Dickerson.
    “I was really frustrated with how Khalil was handling my stepson, just to not show. It was about a kid. I didn’t expect a fight because of a kid. Khalil threatened me.
    “I did agree to fight man on man. We discussed fighting — he discussed killing.” Bacchus testified.
    “The text messages were over,” four days earlier, Bacchus said, adding he didn’t expect to be attacked by four men in a barber shop four days later.
    Asked who was in the fight, Bacchus testified it involved Brandon Stokes, who is on 20 years’ probation for assault and battery with a deadly weapon in an unrelated case; Aufleger, who did not have a criminal record; Khalil Dickerson, who does not have a record; and Dickerson’s brother, Henry Moon, who was given a 12-year prison term in March for unrelated crimes.
    Stokes, Dickerson and Moon were subpoenaed by the defense to testify, but each one refused to answer any questions at the trial by invoking the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination.
    In his closing argument, defense attorney Andrew Casey of Oklahoma City told the jury, “He shows up at a barber shop by himself — to get beaten. He is violently jumped by four people — broke his nose, hit and kicked, strangled, punched twice more, then talked about go get the gun.”
    Pointing out that the defendant has no criminal history, Casey said, “Darrin Bacchus fired at the car because he was looking for the gun.”
    Outside in the parking lot, “He had the opportunity to fire at Khalil Dickerson, the ringleader of this — he did not.
    “People are following him — he is looking for a gunman. The person who was killed had a gun. He’s been gruesomely attacked. He thought he was going to die.
    “If this isn’t a situation where you can use a gun, I don’t know what is. He had received death threats. He was heavily outnumbered.
    “He can stand his ground, use self-defense. He has no duty of retreat,” Casey told the jury.
    When Stillwater police arrived, the barbershop owner yelled to police, “He’s innocent — it’s self-defense,” Casey emphasized.
    Speaking in a loud voice in his closing argument, prosecutor J.R. Kalka told the jury, “This ain’t a gun battle. He ain’t running nowhere. He’s getting his revenge. When he left the barbershop, he was no longer in imminent danger. This ain’t a punch in the nose case. This is a homicide case. Landon Aufleger ain’t here today because the defendant shot him.
    “The defendant could have called the police. I encourage you to sentence him to 25 years,” the prosecutor told the jury, who acquitted Bacchus.