A gun, a baseball bat and flared tempers land four people in trouble with the law

Local News

January 14, 2009

By Kandra Wells The McAlester News-Capital Wed Jan 14, 2009, 09:54 AM CST

Two people have pleaded guilty and two more remain jailed on felony gun charges following an alleged assault Jan. 3 involving a revolver, a baseball bat and about 20 people on a McAlester street that night.

Robert Calton, 41, and Tony Keyes, 25, both of McAlester, remained jailed this morning on gun charges pending court appearances scheduled Friday in Pittsburg County District Court.

Keyes is accused of assaulting two McAlester women and a man with a 22-caliber gun, and felony possession of the gun after his August conviction of misdemeanor drunk driving. He is also charged with misdemeanor transporting of a loaded firearm in a motor vehicle, and remained jailed this morning in lieu of $50,000.

Calton is accused of possession of the gun after a former felony conviction, a 1997 escape in New Mexico. He also faces a misdemeanor charge of transporting a loaded firearm in a motor vehicle and remains jailed in lieu of $25,000.

Police report they were dispatched to Hickory and Taylor at about 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 3 and found a group of 15 to 20 people in the street, and two getting in a car. The crowd yelled that the people in the car had a gun, and a responding officer stopped the car about a half block away.

McAlester patrolman Shawn DeLana reported two men later identified as Calton and Keyes started to get out of the car, and he told them to remain inside. Meanwhile, he said he heard the crowd from the nearby intersection getting louder, and turned to find they were approaching the car. He told them to turn back, and turned around again to find Keyes out of the car and walking towards him, according to an affidavit filed in the case. The officer drew his weapon and ordered Keyes to the ground at gunpoint, DeLana reported, at which point Calton began also getting out of the car.

The officer reported both men were told several times, at gunpoint, to lay on the ground, before a second officer arrived.

That’s when the group from the intersection again began coming towards the officers “hollering and cussing at Keyes and Calton,” the affidavit states. Two men believed to be instigators from the group were eventually arrested: Cleveland Craig and James Maddox, both 21 and both of McAlester.

Turning back again to Keyes and Calton, DeLana reported he found Keyes on his feet moving towards the passenger side of the car, and Calton on his knees. Both men were ordered back to the ground and were eventually searched, with a steak knife and blue “dew rag” allegedly found in Keyes’ pocket.

Officers found a handgun about 10 feet away from the car in the grass, they reported. An aluminum baseball bat was found in the car.

Keyes allegedly told police he had been robbed earlier in the day by people at a residence near the intersection, that it was about the third incident with the same people “regarding the colors Keyes wore,” and that he had gone to Calton for help. Calton said they had gone to the residence “to talk and get things straightened out,” and that “people began coming out of the residence with jack handles and other clubs,” DeLana’s affidavit states.

The officer reported he told Calton he was being arrested because of the gun that was found near the car, and “Calton had a look of shock on his face,” according to DeLana’s affidavit. According to the document, “Calton said, ‘There is a gun?’ Ptl. DeLana told Calton the firearm had been found. Calton became enraged and turned to Keyes and began screaming, ‘Did you bring a gun?’”

Later, two women and a man alleged Keyes threatened them with a gun.

Judgment and sentencing have been deferred for Craig and Maddox. They pleaded guilty Jan. 5 to misdemeanor obstruction of an officer and judgment and sentencing were deferred for a year.

Calton and Keyes have been assigned court-appointed attorneys and preliminary hearing conferences on their cases are set for Friday.

Contact Kandra Wells at kwells@mcalesternews.com.

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