(Stillwater, Okla) — A Cushing man has pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident on Highway 18, north of Cushing, that killed a pedestrian two years ago.
Bryan Ray Odle, 26, was jailed last week pending his Sept. 11 sentencing in the traffic death of Robert Jason Burt, 33, of Cushing, before Associate District Judge Stephen Kistler.
Odle was charged with failure to stop in a fatal accident and negligent homicide. He pleaded guilty to both counts on July 10, court records show.
Odle has a plea bargain for a five-year deferred sentence, six months in the Payne County Jail, a $500 fine, a $250 victims’ compensation fund assessment, 50 hours of community service within six months of his release from incarceration, a $150 DNA fee, and any recommendations in a background report to be compiled for the court.
In his written guilty plea, Odle said, “I had an accident and left,” court records show.
The victim’s mother, Vickie L. Still, wrote in a victim impact statement filed in court records, “Jason had many friends, besides family, that miss him very much and want to see justice. We all had high hopes and expectations for his future.”
Her son’s body was found the morning after the May 18, 2007, accident in a ditch on Highway 18, three-tenth’s of a mile north of 44th Street, according to Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Mark Trunk.
He had received a severe injury to his head area, Trunk testified in a preliminary hearing.
Trunk said “blood spatter evidence was used to determine where the body was at the point of impact,” which he said was two feet west of the west edge of Highway 18.
The trooper testified that Odle’s black Ford Ranger pickup, which was found about one-quarter of a mile from the scene near 44th Street, “had damage consistent with this type of collision.”
Blood was on the right front fender, the windshield and the passenger door glass, Trunk testified.
“There was circular breakage of the windshield, which is consistent with a head strike,” Trunk testified.
When Odle was interviewed about noon on May 19, 2007, “He did admit he was the owner of the vehicle,” Trunk testified.
“He believed he had struck a roadway sign, just before midnight, May 18, 2007,” Trunk testified.
Odle said “he continued on down the road south, that the vehicle began running rough and he pulled over.
“He indicated that the vehicle did pull to the right, that he had a continuing problem with that.
“He said it was possible that he left the road, that his vehicle pulled to the right,” Trunk testified.
Prosecutor Tom Lee pointed out that there was a 12-hour gap between the accident and Odle’s coming to the scene of the fatal collision.
OHP Trooper Johnny Fairres said he interviewed Odle at the Cushing police station in the early afternoon the day that Burt’s body was found.
“Mr. Odle told me he heard a body was found at that location — he said he felt bad that he might have hit someone,” Fairres testified.
The pedestrian died from multiple injuries, according to a medical examiner’s report offered into evidence at the preliminary hearing by the prosecutor.
Failure to stop in a fatal accident is a felony, which carries a maximum penalty of a 10-year prison term and a $10,000 fine, court records show.
Negligent homicide is a misdemeanor, which carries a maximum penalty of a one-year jail term and a $1,000 fine, court records show.
Editors Note: This story is corrected from an earlier version which indicated that Odle had been released on bond. Odle remains in the Payne County Jail.
***
