(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Stillwater man with an extensive criminal record in New Jersey has been charged with first-degree manslaughter by allegedly driving under the influence of intoxicating drugs when his Mazda fatally struck a pedestrian crossing the street at Perkins Road and Eighth Street in Stillwater at 9:05 p.m. on Sept. 26.
Julio Ceasar Perez, who has also been known as Alexis Perez, 39, remains held on $50,000 bail pending an Oct. 10 court appearance, a jail spokesman said.
If convicted of causing the death of 48-year-old Delores Horton of Stillwater, Perez could be imprisoned for 12 years to life, due to his criminal record, according to the manslaughter charge filed this week by Payne County First Assistant District Attorney Kevin Etherington.
Perez, who is currently on probation for domestic violence in Stillwater, has prior felony convictions from Hudson County, N.J., for burglary and receiving stolen property in 2014, robbery in 2008 and burglary in 2006, court records show.
When Stillwater Police Officer William Cluck, who is a drug recognition expert, was called to the accident scene, Perez “was visibly shaken and very emotional about the accident,” an affidavit said.
“Perez was very talkative, very fidgety and kept asking for a drink of water,” according to Cluck’s affidavit.
“I asked Perez if he had taken any drugs today and he first said no, but then admitted that he used methamphetamine,” around 9 p.m. the previous night, Cluck alleged in his affidavit.
Perez also admitted to smoking marijuana around 1:30 p.m. and taking prescription medication around 10 a.m., the affidavit alleged.
“I attempted to administer standardized field sobriety tests, but Perez was too emotional,” Cluck wrote in his affidavit.
After Perez was arrested at 9:56 p.m. for driving under the influence, he was transported to the Stillwater Medical Center where a sample of his blood was taken, the affidavit said.
The drug recognition expert alleged in his affidavit that he believed Perez was under the influence of stimulants and marijuana and unable to operate a motor vehicle safely.
Two weeks before the fatal accident, Perez had been charged with knowingly concealing about $1,800 worth of electronic equipment that had been stolen from his neighbor on Sept. 7, court records show.
In that case, a Perkins man said that “his friend and barber, Julio Perez, contacted him on Facebook Messenger and said that he was trying to sell an Apple MacBook laptop,” an affidavit by Stillwater Police Officer Christopher Hummel alleged.
“Julio drove to his house in Perkins and sold him the laptop for $40,” but when the buyer powered it up, he saw the name of a woman, from whom it was stolen, the affidavit alleged.
When a search warrant was served at Perez’s residence in Stillwater on Sept. 10, “numerous items of stolen property were recovered,” including electronic equipment stored in suitcases below a trap door in the living room, the affidavit alleged.
A month earlier, Perez had been charged with threatening to punch his girlfriend to death and resisting arrest from two Stillwater police officers on Aug. 6 at his residence, court records show.
At the time, Perez was already on probation for punching the same woman on the face on May 25, 2017, at their residence, court records show. When Perez pleaded guilty to domestic violence as a misdemeanor on May 30 of this year, he was placed on one year’s probation with an order to attend Menders, court records show.
In that case, Perez was arrested after another woman flagged down Stillwater Police Officer Shawn Millermon at 10:34 p.m. on May 25, 2017, court records show. She said “she was walking by the house on the southwest corner of 9th Avenue and Duncan and she heard a female inside screaming for help,” the affidavit said.
Perez’s girlfriend “looked scared and her right eye was droopy,” according to the officer, who said when he asked if she was ok, “She stepped back and shook her head no and then nodded toward Julio,” the affidavit said.
“Once outside she told me she could not see out of her right eye…She kept saying she did not want to press charges…She finally stated she and Julio had gotten into an argument about him wanting to do more drugs,” which she did not want him to do, the affidavit said.
She said that Perez struck her on the right side of her head, which began swelling while the officer was there, the affidavit said.
Perez’s girlfriend was transported to the emergency room by ambulance, the affidavit said.
Vomit was found in the bathroom sink of the couple’s residence along with blood on the bathtub and bathroom floor, the affidavit said.
***
