April 6, 2016
By Paul Joseph, Paragon Communications News Director –
A Broken Arrow man has avoided a jury trial and pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter five days before his trial date in Washita County.
20-year-old Chance Travis Taylor also pleaded guilty to a Custer County felony charge of bogus checks over $500-dollars. He’s been sentenced to 10-years in prison.
The manslaughter charge was the result of car accident that occurred in January of 2015 that claimed the life of another man.
According to a probable cause affidavit, an Oklahoma Highway Trooper observed two vehicles at the site of an automobile accident about a mile east of Dill City on State Highway 152. The two vehicles were both in a south side ditch.
The Nissan was observed to have sustained heavy damage. The driver, Harry Cook was deceased and the passenger, Guagalupe Perez was later flown to an Oklahoma City hospital.
Taylor was the driver of the other vehicle, a GMC Yukon that was found on its passenger side. He’d sustained serious injuries and was sent to Clinton Regional Hospital.
The two vehicles hit, head-on striking front driver side to front driver side in Cook’s lane of travel, according to one report. Taylor was thought to have been driving westbound, entirely in the eastbound lane and lost control of his vehicle. Cook appeared to have swerved to avoid Taylor’s vehicle, but was unsuccessful.
A court document says a Clinton Police officer was requested to draw blood from Taylor because Cook had died as a result of the accident. That report, received in early June of last year, indicated that Taylor was positive for methamphetamine, opiates and another drug the night of the crash. He was arrested on a bench warrant July 21 and charged with manslaughter 10 days later.
He pled guilty on Thursday, March 24, to both crimes and was sentenced to a term of 20-years with all but the first 10-years suspended. The court further recommended Taylor complete Drug Offender Work Camp or an equivalent substance program with the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.
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