Man receives prison sentence for murder in 2022

September 7 – A McAlester man who fatally shot one woman and injured another in December 2022 was sentenced to serve time in a federal prison.

Darius Alexander Presley, 23, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in Indian Country, assault with intent to murder in Indian Country, using, carrying, brandishing and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, causing the death of a person in the course of a violation of Title 18 U.S. Code 924c, and possession of a firearm as a felon in a December 2023 plea agreement in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

Presley was originally charged with first-degree murder in Indian Country in April, along with three other counts in the death of Tonya George and the shooting of another woman twice at a residence in rural Pittsburg County near the intersection of State Highway 113 and Hamilton Loop on Dec. 2, 2022.

“I shot Tonya and Stacy,” Presley told U.S. Magistrate Judge Gerald Jackson when asked what he did during a hearing Wednesday in federal court in Muskogee.

Presley also admitted that he intended to kill both women when he pulled the trigger.

U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett sentenced Presley to 327 months in prison for murder, 240 months for assault, 120 months for illegal possession of a firearm under Title 18, and 180 months. All charges will run concurrently, meaning Presley will spend a total of 27.25 years in prison.

Presley also received five years probation and was ordered to pay $3,483.18 in restitution.

Starrett approved a request to serve his sentence at the federal prison in El Reno.

Choctaw Lighthorse Investigator Alena Ashalintubbi wrote in a probable cause affidavit that she was dispatched to a reported shooting at a residence south of Indianola in rural Pittsburg County on Dec. 2.

Ashalintubbi wrote in her report that the operations center informed her that one person was dead and another was being taken to hospital with gunshot wounds to the head and arm.

According to the affidavit, emergency responders told Ashalintubbi that the surviving woman was the one who spoke and was the one who called 911.

The woman told dispatchers that Presley was the shooter and that he left the house in a white Chrysler 300. A .22 caliber revolver was used in the shooting, the report said.

Ashalintubbi wrote in her report that the woman who was shot identified the woman who was killed as George.

Later that day, a standoff with police occurred at a McAlester residence after someone noticed a vehicle believed to be driven by Presley parked in front of a home on North Ash Street in McAlester.

When police arrived, they found the vehicle empty and focused their search on a house where the suspect was believed to be staying. The house was near a daycare center, which is why the daycare center had to be cordoned off.

Police shifted their focus after a 14-year-old youth disappeared from another residence across the street from the house police first focused on.

Presley was taken into custody without incident.

According to the report, Ashalintubbi and an FBI agent questioned Presley, who agreed to speak with investigators.

Presley admitted that he went to the residence with a gun, shot the two women and fled to the McAlester residence, the report said.

“When he heard the address on the scanner, he ran to the house across the street,” the report states. “Darius said he placed the gun on a bed and told the juvenile inside the house to hide it.”

According to the report, the weapon was found in the apartment after a search by FBI agents.

Presley remains charged in Choctaw Nation District Court with first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon and carrying firearms after conviction/while on probation. The case is on hold pending federal charges.