2/4/2022- 10:28 p.m.
A Tulsa man is headed to federal prison for 5 years and 3 months for voluntary manslaughter, after shooting and killing a close friend during an argument.
Jonhron Starks pleaded guilty and at the sentencing hearing this week, he apologized to the victim’s sister, who was in the courtroom.
Starks’ attorney says two families had been friends for a long time, and viewed each other as family.
In her victim impact statement, the victim’s sister told Starks she and her mother forgave him and still loved him.
She urged him to be a better person and make better decisions in the future.
The initial report said on September 19th, 2020, the victim and her husband got into an argument and he left and went to Starks’ apartment, where he was watching movies with two women.
The victim also went to Stark’s apartment to tell her husband to come home and he did, but, then the husband went back to Starks’ apartment and his wife also returned.She banged on Stark’s door and window, breaking the window.
Starks confronted her with a gun and they argued, then it turned physical and he pointed the gun at the back of her head and told her to get away from his door.
The fight continued and Starks fired the gun and she was hit in the chest.
Witnesses heard Starks say, I can’t believe I shot my cousin, I’m sorry DD,” then saw him run from the area.
Starks turned himself in the next day.
Surveillance video didn’t show the shooting, but did show him running away and putting the gun by a fence and it was recovered.
The gun had been stolen from a home in Haskell in 2016.
Police say illegal drugs and have alcohol may may have played a role in the shooting.
The case was prosecuted in federal court because the victim was a citizen of the Muscogee Nation, and the crime occurred within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation Reservation.
