CRIME REWIND: Driver in fatality crash still in prison

Jan. 12—A man who pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges in 2019 tried to get post-conviction relief amid the McGirt ruling, but he was denied.

On Jan. 26, 2018, Tahlequah police officers were dispatched to Walmart after Aram Barak Catron tried to steal merchandise. He was confronted by employees and fled the area in a Ford truck.

Authorities with the Cherokee Nation Marshal Service located Catron driving at a high rate of speed and forcing other drivers off the rode. Officers initiated a traffic stop, but Catron continued to elude. He was northbound on West Avenue when he failed to stop for the stop sign at West Choctaw Street at 80 mph.

Catron struck a Buick Enclave that was driven by Malinda Jane Phillips, of Park Hill, who was eastbound on West Choctaw Street. The crash was so violent that it sent the Enclave through a utility pole, after which it struck a tree. Philips was killed on impact due to multiple blunt force injuries.

Catron was ejected from the truck, airlifted to a Tulsa hospital and admitted in critical condition. He checked out of the hospital before District 27 District Attorney Jack Thorp could bring charges against him.

First-degree murder charges were filed against Catron while he was at large. Tahlequah Police Chief Nate King and Thorp said they believed the CN Marshal Service deputy acted "safely and with restraint" in his pursuit of Catron.

According to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, Catron has a criminal history. He has felony convictions in Delaware County dating to December 2010. He has convictions for aggravated DUI, possession of marijuana, DUI resulting in personal injury, carrying a firearm while under the influence, felony leaving the scene of an accident involving injury, felony eluding or attempting to elude a police officer, and speeding.

Due to his criminal history, authorities said the public should consider Catron dangerous.

Catron was captured February 2018 in McDonald County, Missouri, when he was taken in on a warrant. He was transported back to Tahlequah and pleaded not guilty during arraignment. A judge found probable cause for the first-degree murder charge and set a $600,000 bond.

The case moved forward to jury trial in May 2018 and was slated for September, but then pushed back for January 2019. The case was passed again to May 2019 before scheduled for trial in September 2019.

Catron waived a jury trial and was going to plead guilty to manslaughter. By doing that, he would have been sentenced to 25 years and credited for time served. He refused to plea during his sentencing, against the advice of his attorney, and was going to stand trial a week later.

Catron changed his mind a third time on Sept. 17, 2019, and pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Thorp said Catron lost his right to a jury trial when he waived it the week before.

Catron was sentenced to 26 years in the Department of Corrections. But he filed for post-conviction relief, citing the state lacked subject matter jurisdiction, since the Major Crimes Act gave the federal government jurisdiction to prosecute manslaughter that was committed by tribal members on tribal land, the U.S. Supreme Court's McGirt v. Oklahoma ruling.

In May 2021, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced the federal grand jury completed its session and returned 82 felony indictments. Catron's case one of the 82.

On Aug. 12, 2021, Oklahoma's Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that state-court convictions couldn't be overturned, even if the defendant or victim is Native American, or if the crime occurred on tribal land.

Catron's application for post-conviction relief was denied and he's incarcerated at the North Fork Correctional Center.