Michelle Leigh Mauk
(DOC file photo)
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A 40-year-old Stillwater woman, who reportedly told a Stillwater police officer she usually runs the red light at 9th and Duck Street, has been given a 10-year- prison term followed by 10 years of probation for her fifth drunk driving charge.
Michelle Leigh Mauk, who has also been known by the surname of Brown, was sentenced Wednesday by District Judge Phillip Corley, who told her that she cannot obtain a driver’s license or drive a vehicle, court records show. She had pleaded guilty without an agreement with the prosecution regarding her penalty.
Mauk had been arrested at 10:03 pm on May 5, 2020, by Stillwater Police Officer Daryle Gee, who said he was in his patrol car stopped for a red light at 9th Avenue and Duck Street when he saw a car run through the red light and continue south on Duck Street, his affidavit said.
“The vehicle turned eastbound on 12th Avenue and then south into a private driveway,” before stopping in front of the front porch of the Stillwater Girls Inc. building,” the affidavit said. When the officer walked up to explain why he had stopped Mauk, “The driver stated she hated that light and usually runs it,” the affidavit said.
After issuing Mauk a citation for the red light, “I started to walk away from the vehicle and Mauk stated she had never had a speeding ticket before and then stated she was going to remain sitting there until I moved my vehicle,” the officer wrote in his affidavit.
“I got back into my vehicle and Mauk pulled forward onto the front porch of the building and stopped. Mauk then went forward some more and I thought she was going to hit the building. She then put her vehicle in reverse and backed off of the porch striking a post on the porch and some railing.
“She continued in reverse, and I started honking my horn to get her to stop before she backed into the front of my vehicle. I put my vehicle in reverse and backed up before she ran into me,” the officer wrote in his affidavit.
“I got out of my vehicle and approached Mauk. I told her to get out of the vehicle, and when she did, I noticed her balance was unstable. She walked up and tried to fix the damage to the porch and when she walked back toward me, I noticed she had unstable balance. I asked Mauk if she had been drinking and she told me she hadn’t,” the officer wrote in his affidavit.
According to court records and the state Department of Corrections, Mauk had previously been convicted of drunk driving in 2004 in Stillwater; actual physical control while under the influence of alcohol and child endangerment in 2014 in Stillwater; child endangerment and drunk driving as a subsequent offense in 2015 in Payne County; first-degree burglary in 2015 in Stillwater; and drunk driving in 2015 in Drumright in Creek County. In several of her previous cases, Mauk had originally been given probation with Drug Court, records show.
