Lester Lee Bays
(PCSD file photo)
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A 68-year-old Glencoe man has been jailed on $100,000 bail pending a May 1 court appearance on charges of shooting a man, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and trafficking 32 pounds of marijuana.
Due to his criminal record, Lester Lee Bays, who was arraigned this week, could be given three life prison terms if convicted of the three-count felony charge filed by prosecutor Debra Vincent last week.
Bays was arrested by Payne County Sheriff’s Investigator Tomm Edwards at 5:33 pm on March 25, about two and one-half hours after deputies talked to a shooting victim, who was transported by ambulance to the Stillwater Medical Center, an affidavit said.
Bays told the investigator that “he had ‘gotten pissed off at him (the victim), pulled my pistol from under his pillow and shot him through the wall as (the victim) was running out of the room,"” Edwards’ affidavit alleged.
Deputies found two large black plastic trash bags containing a green leafy substance, one about one-third full of loose marijuana and the other with about 20 individually packed marijuana bags, the affidavit alleged.
Asked if he had a medical marijuana card, Bays told the investigator no and handed Deputy Dalton Ross “two additional large plastic bags which had been on the bed with him,” the affidavit alleged.
“Lt. Justin Henninger conducted the field testing; the result showed a presumptive positive test for marijuana. The total weight of the seized marijuana was approximately 32 pounds,” the affidavit alleged.
According to Payne County court records, Bays was placed on 10 years’ probation in 2021 for being a felon in possession of a firearm, a charge for which he was also convicted in 2018. Bays had been convicted in 1987 of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for which he received three months’ incarceration and nine months of probation, court records show.
