(Stillwater) — A Yale man has been ordered to stand trial on felony charges of assault and battery on then-Yale Police Chief Robert Miller and carrying a gun into a bar located in the Yale area.
Liberty Zane Merriman, 33, waived his right to preliminary hearings in both cases Monday. He remains free on $20,000 bail pending his trial court arraignment on Aug. 14, court records show.
Merriman also was charged with misdemeanor counts of marijuana possession and public intoxication.
If convicted of his felony and misdemeanor charges, Merriman could be given as much as eight years’ incarceration and $2,600 in fines.
About four months after Merriman’s arrest, Miller resigned as Yale police chief.
In a letter to the editor published in the May 14 issue of the Drumright Gusher, Miller cited conflicts with the city manager as the reason for his resignation.
Merriman had gone into the Cowboy Club in rural Yale at about 8:15 p.m. Jan. 3 and handed the bar owner, Pauline Matheny of Maramec, a magazine for a gun containing about 15 rounds of 9 mm ammunition, Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Dustin Chadwell wrote in an affidavit.
The owner said that she noticed a handgun tucked into Merriman’s pants in the small of his back while Merriman was playing billiards at the bar, the affidavit alleged.
“She retrieved the gun and locked it up in her safe until deputies could arrive to take possession,” according to the affidavit.
A few minutes later, Merriman went to the Yale Police Department to report that the owner of the Cowboy Club bar, which is located outside Yale city limits, “had taken his gun away from him and he wanted me to go get it,” Miller wrote in an affidavit.
Miller, then the Yale police chief, said that he told Merriman that a dispatcher was calling the Payne County Sheriff’s Office and that a deputy would take care of it, according to the affidavit.
“He became very loud and was yelling at me to go get his gun,” Miller wrote in his affidavit.
When the dispatcher, who was on the phone with the Payne County Sheriff’s Office, asked Merriman his name, Merriman said that it didn’t matter and started walking out the door, the affidavit said.
The dispatcher told the Yale police chief that the Sheriff’s Office “wanted us to keep him here until a deputy arrived.
“I followed Mr. Merriman outside and I advised him he couldn’t leave until a deputy arrived,” the then-police chief wrote in his affidavit.
Merriman then cursed the police chief and told him he was leaving, the affidavit alleged.
The then-police chief said that he advised Merriman several times that he couldn’t leave, and that Merriman kept cursing him, the affidavit alleged.
“I then took a hold of his left jacket sleeve and advised him again that he couldn’t leave.
“Mr. Merriman then pushed me backwards with both hands and told me to get away from him and then he started walking away,” the then-police chief alleged in his affidavit.
“I advised him that he better not push me again and that he was under arrest for public intoxication and I grabbed his sleeve again.
“Mr. Merriman then pushed me back to a point I almost fell, and he took off running east toward the bank.
“I began running after him and telling him to stop. I then pulled my taser and fired and I heard Mr. Merriman yell and then stop running.
“I could tell that the taser had missed and as I was getting closer to Mr. Merriman, I pulled my used taser cartridge off my taser.
“As I got to Mr. Merriman, I grabbed him again, which he kept trying to get away from me.
“I drive stunned Mr. Merriman with my taser several times to get him under control.
“Every time I would use my taser on him, I could hear him yell, but I couldn’t get him under control,” the then-police chief wrote in his affidavit.
“He then pushed me away again and started running west.
“Officer (James) Elrod came running up at that point and fired his taser, which was effective, and Mr. Merriman went to the ground.
“I was then able to gain control of Mr. Merriman and place him under arrest.
“I then led him to the Police Department, during which he was still very belligerent and still continued to try to pull away from me,” the then-chief wrote in his affidavit.
During the jail booking process, a baggie of marijuana was found in Merriman’s pocket, the then-chief alleged in his affidavit.
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