Unusual cases on final week of Comanche County jury docket

The final week of the Comanche County jury trial docket includes a pair of unusual cases.

Jurors will begin the selection process Monday morning at the Comanche County Courthouse, 305 SW 5th.

A Texas man will begin trial Wednesday in Comanche County District Judge Scott D. Meaders’ court for allegations he sexually assaulted one woman and punched out another to near-unconsciousness.

A jury will deliberate the fate of Billy Joe Martin, 51, of Cooper, Texas, for a felony charge of sexual battery and a misdemeanor count of assault and battery, records indicate. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Martin was arrested in April 2023 after police were called to the Hilton Garden Inn parking lot, 135 NW 2nd. One woman was found barely conscious in the front seat of a pickup with blood on her mouth, according to the probable cause affidavit. Another woman near the truck was visibly upset with blood on her face, investigators said.

Two witnesses said Martin was seen hitting, punching and slapping the woman inside the truck, the affidavit states. Witnesses said Martin was seen grabbing the other woman by the hair and pulling it.

The second woman told police Martin shoved his hands into her pants and sexually assaulted her. She said he was “violently” and aggressively kissing her after she tried to push him away, according to the affidavit.

Martin has been free on $25,000 bond since his initial court appearance April 25, 2023.

District Judge Jay Walker’s court will be the setting Wednesday for the trial of a man accused of stalking a city jail employee.

Michael Jermaine McLeod, 52, of Lawton, will begin trial for a felony charge of stalking in violation of a court order, records indicate. The crime is punishable by up to five years in prison.

McLeod is accused of a bizarre Jan. 12, 2023, incident at the Public Safety Building, 100 S. Railroad, where a woman with a protective order against him works at the Lawton City Jail. She has a protective order against him and he is serving a five-year suspended sentence for stalking in a 2018 case, records indicate.

Video surveillance showed a vehicle back up and park close to the public entrance to the jail a little after 6 a.m. McLeod was seen opening the rear cargo door and removed a wooden bench and placed it on the walkway outside the entrance while the woman was inside at work, the probable cause affidavit states. He then drove away. The woman identified McLeod from a still image from the video.

The bench had several messages painted on it: “Dep. Chief Hines,” a painted image of a heart with “Jerome Janky Gun Payton,” “July 13, 2022,” and “2 (expletive) friends decided to point a gun at someone,” the affidavit states. The messages reference the woman, her brother Deputy Police Chief Will Hines, and Payton, investigators said.

On July 14, 2022, the woman filed a police report stating that McLeod was harassing her and Payton and that a firearm was involved, according to the affidavit.

Records indicate McLeod has had several protective order violations since it was issued in September.

McLeod was arrested later that day for warrants due to violations of the protective order with a $50,000 bond, and his vehicle seen in the video was impounded. Inside, police found numerous CO2 replica firearms that shoot BBs and/or pellets and a baggie containing a small amount of marijuana, the affidavit states.

McLeod has been held on a $50,000 bond since his initial court appearance on Feb. 9, 2023.

All trials are subject to last-minute plea agreements and continuations.