(Stillwater, Okla.) – The first-degree murder trial, scheduled to begin on Sept. 23 in Payne County District Court, for a Cushing man accused of repeatedly stabbing a drinking companion has been postponed due to a defense attorney’s request for monies from the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System to consult with a crime scene investigator.
The defendant, Noel Lee Bryan, 21, who was dating the slain man’s niece, remains jailed without bail pending a pre-trial hearing on Oct. 2 before Payne County Associate District Judge Stephen Kistler, who granted the motion for continuance Friday. A new trial date has not been set.
The victim, Nathaniel Ray Becenti, 37, was stabbed once in the lower chest, once in the heart area and once in the left side of his neck, according to an investigator’s testimony in a preliminary hearing in February.
Becenti was found dead in his bedroom by his aunt shortly after 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 3, 2014, at his aunt’s house where he was living, an affidavit said.
The slain man was intoxicated with a blood alcohol level of .39, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent Michael Dean testified in the preliminary hearing.
The victim was a caring, loving person who had trouble with alcohol, his aunt told a KUSH reporter after the preliminary hearing concluded.
“He had a young child less than a year old at the time of his death. He was always working to provide for his children whom he loved,” his aunt said.
The OSBI agent was told that one of the reasons the victim’s aunt left the residence was that the victim was drinking heavily, he testified. The agent testified he was told that Becenti became “physically violent and abusive when he was drinking.”
Relatives said that the slain man was last seen alive with Bryan, OSBI agent Derek White testified in the preliminary hearing.
Bryan lived in a rented room in the 1500 block of E. Moses Street in Cushing, less than a mile from where the slaying occurred at the victim’s residence in the 1200 block of E. Pecan Street, White said.
Bryan had a strong odor of alcohol when the OSBI agent and Cushing Police Chief Tully Folden went to his residence about 2 a.m. on Oct. 4, 2014, White testified.
“According to Noel Bryan, he rarely drank alcohol,” White testified under cross-examination from court-appointed defense attorney Jodie Gage at the preliminary hearing.
Bryan said that he had gone to the victim’s residence to eat spaghetti on the day of the slaying, White testified.
“He and the victim watched movies and drank all day,” White testified he was told.
Bryan claimed that the slaying occurred in self-defense, White testified.
Bryan said that there was an argument over his girlfriend and the victim’s aunt wanting Becenti to move out because of his drinking, White testified.
Bryan said he got a knife from the kitchen and put it under a pillow in his girlfriend’s bedroom, White testified.
An hour or two later, “Ray (Becenti) shook him and hit him in the eye,” and then Bryan stabbed Becenti in Bryan’s girlfriend’s bedroom, White testified he was told by the defendant.
Bryan had “abrasive injuries to his arms, like falling, and a shiner under his left eye,” White testified.
“He said he fell down in the hallway,” at the house where the slaying occurred, White testified.
When First Assistant District Attorney Kevin Etherington asked White about Bryan’s participation in cage fighting, the defense objected and the OSBI agent was not allowed to answer the question.
Bryan admitted “he should have left before it (the slaying) happened,” OSBI agent White testified.
There was no evidence that the slain man had any weapon, the agent testified.
Under cross-examination at the preliminary hearing, the agent testified “the defendant had been living at that address (where the slaying occurred) for a week. He had stayed there with his girlfriend for several days.”
In successfully arguing that Bryan should be ordered to stand trial on a first-degree murder charge, the prosecutor said, “The defendant revealed he had stabbed Mr. Becenti three times with a knife. Despite the defendant having an opportunity to leave the residence, he obtained a knife from the kitchen.
“Two hours later, additional words were exchanged. He stabbed the victim three or four times in a room with no evidence of conflict. The evidence does not comply with self-defense,” the prosecutor argued.
First-degree murder carries a punishment of life in prison, life without parole or death.
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