Chaz Strader
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — In an unusual development during a jury trial, a Stillwater man accused of strangling his partner unexpectedly pleaded guilty to a felony charge of assault and battery by means likely to produce death.
Jurors were not present in the courtroom last week when Chaz Michael Strider, 31, told District Judge Phillip Corley what he had done on July 4, 2020.
“For the first time in my life, I blacked out. When I came to, I was severely hurting the person I love most. I did put a strap around her neck,” Strider said.
Defense attorney Royce Hobbs told the judge, “I have advised him his parental rights will be terminated,” due to his guilty plea. Before sentencing Strider in accordance with prosecutor Debra Vincent’s recommendation, the judge told Strider that he had no jurisdiction regarding his parental rights.
Strider, who had faced the possibility of life in prison, was sentenced to 10 years behind bars and ordered to register as a violent offender for 10 years when released.
His partner, who suffered significant injuries from the attack, did not testify against him or even attend the three-day jury trial that abruptly ended on March 10 with his guilty plea.
At the trial, the jury of eight men and four women had been shown graphic police photos of the victim’s injuries by Stillwater Medical Center Emergency Room Registered Nurse Heidi Gilbert, who had not seen the victim, but was qualified by the judge to testify as an expert witness.
“She’s got a big ligature mark around her neck,” as well as bruises on her face, ear and jaw, jurors were told by Gilbert, a clinical educator for the ER as well as patient care. Explaining the consequences of such an attack, Gilbert testified, “You can have strokes a decade later or longer from being strangled. A strangulation victim can bleed to death.”
In a petition for an emergency protective order 10 days after she was strangled, the victim wrote, “We were in the truck driving and got into an argument. I hit my head on the windshield and do not remember anything other than that. I do have substantial injuries to my eyes, face and neck that were not present before our ride in the truck.
“The entire orbit of my eyes are red due to veins being ruptured. I have bruising handprints across my throat. I fear that something like this could happen again if I don’t take action. I’m fearful of Chaz when he is under the influence of drugs.”
Stillwater Police Detective Mary Kellison wrote in an affidavit for an arrest warrant, “During a follow-up investigation on July 24, 2020, I spoke to (the victim) about going to the hospital to make sure she didn’t have a basal skull fracture or facial injuries that were more severe — to include injury to her brain.
“I asked (her) if she would come with me to the hospital. (She) told me she didn’t really want to go. I asked (her) if she didn’t want to go because she was afraid if she went to the hospital, they would find something more significant and it would result in Chaz being arrested for domestic assault and battery by strangulation and (she) said, ‘Yeah, I am.”
During the trial she was described as an uncooperative victim by Stillwater Police Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson, who had arrived on scene at 4:29 am on July 5, 2020, two minutes after a disabled relative of Strider called 911. “He wanted to beat me up after he beat his wife up. You can see her. She is beat to hell,” the 911 caller said, according to the affidavit.
When Sgts. Johnson and Jeremy Rager asked the victim how she received such severe injuries to her head, neck and chest, she said her head struck the windshield of their truck when Strider slammed on his brakes, the affidavit said. She “would not give Sgt. Rager any indication that Chaz was responsible for the injuries,” the affidavit said.
Sgt. Johnson took pictures of her injuries and saw on the truck seat a nylon cargo tie-down strap “that had numerous strands of hair that appeared to be the same color as (the victim’s) hair. Sgt. Johnson also thought the cargo strap appeared to be consistent in width with the marks he saw around (the victim’s) neck,” the affidavit said.
The registered nurse testified that the strap was consistent with the ligature marks around the victim’s neck.
