Prison bars with keys
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A homeless teenager from Tryon has been jailed on $20,000 bail pending a June 6 court appearance at which he can seek a preliminary hearing on a felony charge accusing him of breaking into his ex-girlfriend’s house in Stillwater where he allegedly attacked her and her mother.
If convicted of first-degree burglary plus two counts of assault and battery, Zethan Dean Binford, 18, could be incarcerated for as long as 21 years and three months.
When Stillwater Police Officer Josh Rudluff saw Binford’s ex-girlfriend at 10:41 pm on Oct. 16, 2021, “She had a large knot on the left side of her forehead and was bleeding from it. She also had a small cut on the left side of her nose and several other small cuts on her face,” his affidavit said.
Her mother said that the couple “broke up today and Zethan wanted to come (to) get his belongings that were at their house;” she said she told him he was not welcome inside, and his things would be placed outside in the front yard, the affidavit alleged.
Binford arrived, knocked, and then beat on the door, but when his ex-girlfriend’s mother told him to go away, “he started beating on the window,” the affidavit alleged.
When his ex-girlfriend’s mother opened the front door to tell him to stop and leave, Binford pushed her to the side and went in, the affidavit alleged.
After his ex-girlfriend got between them and tried to push him back, “Zethan began hitting her;” she fell to the floor where he continued to hit and kick her, the affidavit alleged.
His ex-girlfriend said she was unsure how many times she was hit, the affidavit alleged.
When her mother tried to pull him off her daughter, Binford began hitting her also, the affidavit alleged.
His ex-girlfriend’s mother had a small bump and bruise in the middle of her forehead, the affidavit said.
She said “two other people were with Zethan and they entered the house and carried him out before leaving in a truck. Zethan was not on scene when we arrived. While they were fighting on the ground, someone caused a large hole in the wall in the hallway,” the officer alleged in his affidavit.
His ex-girlfriend, who was lethargic and said she was going to throw up several times, was transported by ambulance to the Stillwater Medical Center, the affidavit said.
“I asked (her) where Zethan lived, and she told me he couch-surfs and stays wherever he can,” the officer wrote in his affidavit.
