Michael Robert Alston
(DOC file photo)
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Cushing man has been charged with felony domestic violence for allegedly kicking a teen-aged son, who was propelled into the open gate to a dog crate, along with a misdemeanor count of malicious injury to property for allegedly damaging the front door of his estranged wife’s apartment on Valentine’s Day.
Due to his criminal record of domestic violence and burglary, Michael Robert Alston, 39, who got out of prison three years ago, could be incarcerated for four years to life if convicted of domestic assault and battery as a subsequent offense. Alston could be given a one-year jail term if convicted of malicious injury to property.
Alston was released from the Payne County Jail on $30,000 bail on Feb. 17 with an order to appear in court on April 4. His estranged wife obtained an emergency protective order against him on behalf of herself and her minor sons on Feb. 23, court records show.
Alston had been arrested at 9:25 pm on Feb. 14 about five minutes after Cushing police were dispatched to his estranged wife’s apartment on a report of a breaking and entering in progress, according to an affidavit.
After Alston failed to listen to Cushing Police Officer Alex Gagen’s commands to step out of the apartment, Cushing Police Officer Cody Carpenter pointed a taser at Alston, who complied, an affidavit alleged.
“While placing Michael into handcuffs, I could smell an overwhelming odor of alcohol coming from Michael’s person,” Carpenter alleged in his affidavit.
After Alston was arrested for public intoxication and placed in a patrol car, Carpenter went back to the apartment, his affidavit said.
Alston’s son, who had a red mark under his left eye, said “they were all getting ready for bed when they heard some banging and yelling at the door,” which swung open, the affidavit alleged.
Alston’s son said, “Michael entered the apartment and kicked him,” after which he fell and hit the open gate to the dog crate that caused the mark on his face, the affidavit alleged. He said that when he fell after being kicked, his knee hit the concrete floor, the affidavit alleged. The son refused to have medics come to check his injuries, which included an area around his kneecap that was red and appeared swollen, the affidavit alleged.
Alston’s estranged wife said that Alston was not on the lease at the apartment, the affidavit alleged. She said that Alston had been staying with a relative in Cushing, the affidavit said.
According to the state Department of Corrections, Alston had been sent to prison three times.
Alston was convicted of domestic assault and battery in 2019 in Payne County, but only served one year of a three-year prison term before he was released to seven years of probation in April of 2020, DOC records show.
Alston was also convicted in 2016 of domestic assault and battery that had occurred in Lincoln County in 2015, but only served nine months of a three-year prison term before his release in January of 2017, DOC records show.
Alston was also convicted in 2013 of second-degree burglary that had occurred in Payne County in 2007, but only served 10 months of a three-year prison term before being released in September of 2014; Alston was also convicted in 2008 of second-degree burglary in Lincoln County in 2007 and given a three-year prison term, which he served concurrently to his Payne County case, DOC records show.
