McAlester man sentenced in wife's death

Jun. 22—A McAlester man showed no emotion as family of the woman he murdered spoke in court Tuesday prior to him being sentenced to life in prison.

A Pittsburg County jury in May found Jonathan James Tubbs, 40, guilty of first-degree murder in the February 2020 shooting death of his wife, 37-year-old Catrina Pope at a McAlester residence.

Before Tubbs' was sentenced by District 18 Associate District Judge Tim Mills, victim impact statements were read aloud in court by family members.

"The choices that my father made in just a few seconds changed my life forever," said Jaiden Tubbs before speaking how she and her sister suffer from nightmares caused by their mother's murder.

Jaiden Tubbs said her father deserves to "sit in a cell for the rest of his life" so he can think about the pain he caused to her and the rest of her family.

Carmina Tissington, Catrina Pope's sister, spoke of how her sister Catrina was the definition of strength and was her biggest cheerleader and that Jonathan Tubbs "stole the joy" from their family.

Tissington also read a statement from her father, Mark Pope.

Mark Pope wrote that he feels disappointment in himself for not being there to protect his daughter "when she needed it the most" and that his pain from losing his daughter is so deep that it hurts.

"I'll never get to hug her again," Mark Pope wrote before saying that his daughter was a victim of domestic violence, and he doesn't want her name to be forgotten and that he is working on ways to tell her story in hopes it will help a woman get out of a similar situation.

"Heaven is my home and Catrina is waiting for me with a smile," wrote Mark Pope.

Jonathan Tubbs said he did not want to make a statement when asked by Mills.

Mills said he had "a lot of time" to think about the case since the trial and that he read over all of his notes from the trial, the victim impact statements, and a pre-sentence investigation report that was conducted.

The judge spoke how families of the victim always want the defendant to pay for what he or she did.

"Generally speaking, I would agree with that," said Mills. "In this particular case when there's been a loss of life, I don't know what that means. How can Mr. Tubbs pay for what he done?"

Mills paused for a moment before reading a paragraph from the pre-sentence investigation.

"Although Tubbs appears to accept responsibility for his actions, troubling, Tubbs appears to have no remorse and continues to justify his actions."

Mills followed the jury's recommendation and sentenced Tubbs to the custody of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections for life with the possibility of parole. He will have to serve at least 85% of the sentence to be eligible for parole.

Jonathan Tubbs's attorney, Wes Cherry, told the court that he will file the paperwork for an appeal as soon as all the required copies of needed paperwork are ready.

Mills said to the many family and friends of Catrina Pope that gathered in the courtroom that he hopes his actions in court helped bring comfort to the family and that he was sorry for their loss.

Contact Derrick James at djames@mcalesternews.com