By: Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Stillwater teenager has pleaded guilty as a youthful offender to shooting an acquaintance in the chest that resulted in the victim’s being paralyzed from the waist down.
The defendant, 17-year-old Brandon Kristopher Stokes, was remanded into the custody of the Office of Juvenile Affairs last week by District Judge Phillip Corley, who scheduled a Sept. 13 review of his case.
The victim, 19-year-old Dylan Jarrett, was shot at about 11 p.m. on April 9 at his Stillwater residence where he was living with his girlfriend and her family, according to preliminary hearing testimony.
Stokes was arrested about 50 minutes later by Stillwater police, who spotted his vehicle at Jardot Road and Richmond Road, authorities said. Stokes has been held in a Juvenile Detention Center, court records show.
According to a plea agreement with the prosecution, Stokes will remain in OJA custody until his program is completed, court records show.
“If he successfully completes the OJA program, the state will not ask for more than 20 years (in adult prison), with the last 10 years suspended,” court records show.
When Special District Judge Katherine Thomas ruled that Stokes should be treated as a youthful offender rather than a juvenile, she noted “His intellectual functioning scores at the lower end of the normal range and his emotional functioning and sophistication appear to be lower than his chronological age.
“The defendant expressed emotional difficulties with anger, anxiety and depression. The defendant has very little family or community support. He has lived in numerous states over the past several years.
“His mother was recently incarcerated in the state of New York and was not involved in these proceedings. Prior to his detention, defendant was staying with his mother’s boyfriend.
“The Office of Juvenile Affairs could place the defendant as a youthful offender in a secure long-term treatment facility where the defendant could be removed from current negative environmental influences and avail himself to drug treatment, education and mental health services. If the defendant was unsuccessful with treatment through OJA, other sentencing options are available to the court.”
During a brief preliminary hearing in May, the victim’s girlfriend, a 17-year-old Lincoln Academy student, testified that Stokes said to her boyfriend, who was in her bedroom, “I’m going to need that money back.” She said during an argument about money, “Brandon (Stokes) shot Dylan (Jarrett.)” She said the gunshot hit her boyfriend’s clavicle, then his ribs, and then his spine.
She testified that Stokes would point the gun at her boyfriend and then the ground.
“Dylan picked up a pocket knife and slammed the knife back on the bed,” but she insisted her boyfriend never opened the knife and was unarmed when he was shot from a distance of 10 feet or less.
“I ran downstairs to pick up a towel,” and held a shirt against the wound, she testified.
She testified that she didn’t believe her boyfriend did any drugs that night, but “used maybe weed” that day.
According to court records, at the time of the shooting the victim was free on bail on charges of possessing a large amount of stolen property including a gun taken in Perkins, as well as having marijuana and LSD.
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