Richard Randall Catlett
(file photo)
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Stillwater man accused of driving under the influence of an intoxicating drug and fatally crashing into a ditch has been jailed on $100,000 bail pending a Nov. 1 court appearance on a second-degree murder charge for allegedly causing his front-seat passenger’s death.
If convicted, Richard Randall Catlett, 57, could be given a prison term of 10 years to life, according to the felony charge on which he was arraigned this week.
The victim was identified as Linda Kimble, 41, of Stillwater, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
Toxicology results on Catlett from the state crime bureau “indicated the presence of oxymorphone, oxycodone, amphetamine, methamphetamine, methadone, and alprazolam,” Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper James Stacy alleged in an affidavit filed last week.
Catlett was driving a Chevrolet Cavalier at 6:30 pm on Sunday, July 11, south on Union Road approaching 80th Street in Payne County when he lost control of the car on the gravel road, went off to the right, hit a rocky ditch and the vehicle began to roll, the affidavit alleged. His passenger was ejected and suffered fatal injuries, the affidavit said.
A witness told OHP Trooper Colby Martens that he saw Catlett driving at a high rate of speed and thought the car “was going to crash due to the reckless driving, so he turned around to check on the vehicle,” found it had rolled over and a woman had been ejected, the affidavit alleged.
When the trooper asked Catlett if he had taken any medication, “he stated that he took his prescribed Oxycodone at noon,” the affidavit alleged.
Asked if he had the prescription, “Catlett removed an Oxycodone prescription bottle from his pocket,” and took an unknown number of tablets in front of the trooper, who was unable to keep him from swallowing them, the affidavit alleged.
Catlett was transported by LifeNet EMS to the Stillwater Medical Center where his blood was tested after a trooper obtained a search warrant, the affidavit alleged.
“I interviewed Catlett at the hospital and he admitted to taking un-prescribed Xanax earlier in the day,” taking Oxycodone pills in front of Trooper Martens, and smoking methamphetamine before driving, Trooper Stacy alleged in his affidavit.
“Catlett stated he was driving at approximately 60 mph in the 45 mph speed zone;” however, the car’s event data recorder indicated 77 mph five seconds before the algorithm enable, the affidavit alleged. “Catlett was falling asleep while speaking to me,” but he had not received any hospital medication, Trooper Stacy wrote in his affidavit.
Stillwater Police Department Drug Recognition Expert Sgt. James Hansen evaluated Catlett after his release from the hospital and “determined that Catlett was under the influence of several illegal substances at the time of the collision.
“I later obtained a search warrant for Catlett’s hospital records and a urine analysis indicated the presence of benzodiazepines, oxycodone, methadone, methamphetamines, and cannabinoids,” Trooper Stacy alleged in his affidavit. “Catlett had a prior DUI in Payne County that was accelerated to a suspended sentence in 2012,” the affidavit alleged.
In a separate case filed last week, Catlett was arrested at 7:46 pm on Oct. 18 at McElroy and Monroe Streets on the Oklahoma State University campus and charged with possessing methamphetamine, court records show. OSU Police Officer William Patterson observed Catlett riding a bicycle at 7:40 pm without signaling and with no visible reflector/light on the bike, an affidavit alleged.
After Catlett was arrested on a Payne County warrant for failing to appear in court on a 2011 felony charge of possessing methamphetamine, as well as alprazolam and morphine without a prescription, Catlett told OSU police on Oct. 18 that he had methamphetamine in a jeans pocket and did not want to be charged with bringing drugs into the jail, court records allege.
