(Stillwater, Okla.) — An ex-convict from Cushing accused of slashing and cutting a man at the Doll House club on Highway 51 east of Stillwater has been ordered to appear in court Dec. 5 on a felony charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
Michael Dean Watkins, 29, has been jailed on $150,000 bail since his arrest by Payne County sheriff’s deputies, who were dispatched to the club about 10:40 p.m. Oct. 5, court records show.
Watkins had been out of prison about three months when the victim, identified as Payton Abernathy, was cut in the left thigh, upper left arm and upper chest, according to court records. Abernathy has filed a restitution recovery form for $2,945.
Abernathy — who had a large amount of blood on his chest and left leg — was lying on the ground at the club with several people tending to his injuries when Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Rockford Brown arrived, according to his affidavit.
Abernathy said that he got into a fight with a white male in a green shirt, they went to the ground and the next thing he knew the fight was broken up — and he was cut and bleeding from several places on his body, the affidavit said.
Abernathy, who had a large laceration to his left thigh, a laceration to his upper left arm, and a laceration to his upper left chest, was transported by ambulance to the Stillwater Medical Center emergency room, the affidavit said.
“Watkins was inside and was escorted out to me by staff. Watkins was wearing a green shirt and black gym shorts. Watkins was placed into handcuffs by Deputy Nack and placed in the back of his patrol car,” Brown wrote in his affidavit.
Two witnesses said that “Abernathy and Watkins began to fight near the front door of the club with Abernathy throwing the first punch hitting Watkins in the head. The fight then went to the ground with Abernathy grabbing Watkins, and pulling him to the ground,” the affidavit said.
“According to both witnesses, they were able to pull the two apart and Abernathy had several cuts on his body. No witnesses observed a weapon in Watkins’ hands,” the affidavit said.
Bar staff said that Watkins was with two women, the affidavit said. Both stood near the door when Watkins reentered the bar after the fight where he was seen handing a “lighter” to one of them, the affidavit said.
No weapon was found near the area of the fight and both women had left the bar prior to the deputies’ arrival, the affidavit said. “It was suspected that they might have the weapon, and a call to Cushing P.D. was placed to be on the lookout for them,” the affidavit said.
While Deputy Brown was obtaining witnesses’ statements, “Deputy Nack observed Watkins using a cell phone, which he fished out of his front pocket, while secured and handcuffed in Nack’s back seat,” the affidavit said.
“Watkins was in an obscured body position utilizing the phone. Nack retrieved the cell phone from Watkins, and advised me that a call from (one of the women) showed on the screen, which was visible from the outside of Nack’s patrol car,” Brown wrote in his affidavit.
“The cell phone was retrieved by Nack and handed to me. Another incoming call came from (the woman), which I answered, identifying myself and requested her to come back to the Doll House. She hung up on me,” Brown wrote in his affidavit.
“I gave the phone back to Deputy Nack. While Nack spoke to Watkins, Watkins stated, ‘You can’t use my phone, you can’t look at my phone.’ Nack stated that Watkins appeared very agitated and focused on the phone and what Nack was doing with it,” Brown wrote in his affidavit.
While Nack examined Watkins’ phone, several calls from the woman were observed, as well as from “Reggie,” the affidavit alleged.
“Nack stated as he was scrolling through the phone, the last text received was from Reggie, observed to be saying, ‘Bro, it’s gotta look unplanned,"” the affidavit alleged.
The cell phone showed several messages sent back and forth between Watkins and “Reggie,” who was later identified as a bouncer at the Doll House, the affidavit alleged.
When Watkins was interviewed by deputies, he denied using a weapon, but confessed to conspiring with the bouncer to assault Abernathy and said “it was all a joke,” the affidavit alleged.
The bouncer was arrested for conspiracy to perform an act of violence involving serious bodily harm according to the affidavit, but court records indicate that he was not charged.
The bouncer said that “initially Watkins came in with a tire tool, but he took this away from him,” the affidavit alleged.
According to court records, Watkins has three prior felony convictions, all from Cushing — passing a forged instrument in 2006, possessing firearms after a felony conviction in 2008, and being a felon in possession of firearms in 2010.
He was released from prison in July after serving about one-third of a three-year sentence for his last conviction, state Department of Corrections records show.
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