(Stillwater, Okla.) — In a small courtroom packed with about 50 young people, a 19-year-old woman was ordered to stand trial in the fatal shooting at a Stillwater party of her close friend who was struck in the forehead by a single bullet fired from his recently purchased .22 magnum revolver – which the defendant said she thought was not real.
If convicted of first-degree manslaughter, Perkins native Tristen Leanne Taylor, who was then living in Stillwater, could be sentenced to four years to life in prison. She remains free on $75,000 bail pending her arraignment in trial court on Aug. 7.
Her friend, Alex Vierling, 21, of Stillwater, who had gone to grade school in Perkins, was killed by a gunshot wound to the head, according to an autopsy report placed in evidence at a July 13 preliminary hearing.
Defense attorney Cheryl Ramsey objected to the prosecutor’s amending the charge to include the allegation that Taylor was engaging in “reckless conduct of a firearm” at the time of the fatal shooting shortly after midnight on Dec. 21, 2014.
“There’s no intent in reckless handling of a firearm when you don’t know it was a firearm. This was merely an accident. There is no reason to believe a crime was committed,” Ramsey added. However, Special District Judge Katherine Thomas allowed the amendment by Payne County First Assistant District Attorney Kevin Etherington at the close of the preliminary hearing before binding Taylor over for trial on the manslaughter charge.
Oklahoma State University student Gage Ronspiez, who had attended school in Perkins with the defendant, testified “Tristen and Alex were like brother and sister.”
Ronspiez said when he arrived at the Stillwater party at his best friend’s house at 11:30 p.m. on Dec. 20, 2014, about 15 people were there.
“Alex said, ‘I have a gun – look at this’ and pulled it out of his pocket. At the time I got it in my hand, I knew it was a real gun – I saw one bullet. It was really shocking – it was a real gun,” Ronspiez testified. He said he handed the gun back to Vierling and left.
On cross-examination, Ronspiez said “there was a lot of alcohol there,” but he did not know how much Vierling had to drink.
Haley Breeden of Tryon testified she saw the gun “when Gage (Ronspiez) showed it to us…it was really small.”
She testified “my family hunts and we shoot a lot,” and said “you never point a gun at someone’s head.”
She said she had been to other parties at the house, but there was never a gun there before that night.
She said she had gone into the kitchen when “I heard the shot and I realized it was real.”
When she returned, “Tristen was over Alex frantic. She said ‘it was an accident – he told me to do it,’” Breeden testified.
Breeden said that when she checked the victim, she found no pulse. She said that the defendant called 911.
“They were really good friends. They were sitting together. They had been talking all evening,” Breeden testified.
Breeden said she originally thought it was a cap gun.
She said she had seen the victim drinking: “he wasn’t drunk.”
Leeann Dotter, who said she had known the defendant since kindergarten and considered her a friend, testified that she did not appear intoxicated.
“I obviously knew it was real – I’ve been around guns.
“I saw her hold the gun in her hands – it was pointed at his head,” when it fired, Dotter testified.
“I stood up and said she just shot him in the head,” Dotter testified.
“I immediately went downstairs and called my brother – he’s a police officer,” Dotter testified.
On cross-examination, Dotter testified that the defendant “was draped over him – pleading with him to get up.”
Dotter, who said she had not been drinking, testified she heard no cross words between the defendant and the victim.
Dotter said that the defendant “was saying she didn’t know the gun was real.”
“She screamed ‘I didn’t know it was real,’ over and over,” Dotter testified.
During an interview with Stillwater Police Detective Lt. Jeff Watts, the defendant said, “she had drunk some alcoholic beverages at the party,” according to an affidavit by Detective Inspector Greg Miller.
“Tristen is under 21 years of age. Tristen said she had taken brass knuckles from Alex at a previous party,” the affidavit alleged.
“Tristen said she asked Alex why he had a gun and that she was going to take it from him,” the affidavit alleged.
“Tristen said Alex told her she had better not take the gun and asked her how drunk she was,” the affidavit alleged.
“Tristen believed Alex handed her the gun,” the affidavit alleged.
“Tristen recalled Alex saying to her ‘you won’t shoot me in the head with it,’” the affidavit alleged.
“Tristen responded with ‘it’s not real, why does it even matter,’” the affidavit alleged.
“Tristen stated the gun was in her hand,” the affidavit alleged.
“Tristen would not clearly recall pointing the pistol or pulling the trigger,” the affidavit alleged.
“Tristen said she heard a loud pop and Alex leaned over. Tristen saw blood coming from Alex’s nose,” the affidavit alleged.
He was pronounced dead at the OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City on Dec. 21, 2014, the affidavit said.
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