March 14, 2018
By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –
A 24-year-old Sayre man has been sentenced to 8 years in prison on a crime of manslaughter with another felony court date and trial approaching.
Waylon Lee Wisdom is now set for pre-trial motions in May in an unrelated case of maiming.
Waylon Lee Wisdom was found guilty by a Beckham County jury two months ago and was recently sentenced to prison on that charge in the shooting death of 34-year-old Darren Drake in May of 2016.
The 1st degree manslaughter charge for Wisdom carries with it punishment fixed at eight years. He was also found guilty on a second charge – possession of a firearm after delinquent adjudication – from the same incident that carries a two year sentence, but he was found not guilty on a third charge of robbery with a weapon.
According to a probable cause affidavit, on May 11, 2016, Sayre police found Darren Drake lying on the floor of a home in Sayre with gunshot wounds. He was taken to a hospital in Elk City where he was later pronounced dead.
The shooting stemmed from an altercation with Drake over a gun that Drake thought Wisdom had stolen. According to the court document, Drake pulled a weapon on Wisdom, but Wisdom was able to wrestle it away and flee to another part of the house only to be confronted again by Drake and was shot.
Wisdom is also facing felony maiming charges for the alleged beating of a Reno, Nevada man, 55-year-old Russell Dumlao. Dumlao is suspected of killing another Sayre man in 2016 and was arrested and placed in the Beckham County Detention Center. Jerry Essary’s burned body was discovered at a home in Sayre in November of 2016.
Dumloa was beaten while incarcerated by two county inmates – one thought to be Waylon Wisdom who is charged with the crime and will be in District Court in Sayre on that charge on May 18. It was continued from February 28 in order for attorneys to review recently received medical records.
Russell Dumlao was initially charged with the murder of Essary, but was so severely beaten while in jail that it’s believed he’ll never regain consciousness. Charges against Dumlao, who is thought to be in a medical facility in Oklahoma City were dropped on January 4, 2017.
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