Leon Markel Winston Jr., 42, is being held in the Sequoyah County Jail without bail for Caughman’s murder. His preliminary hearing began March 2 in Sequoyah County District Court before Special District Judge Dennis Sprouse. Sprouse continued the hearing to Aug. 3 and 4.
After numerous witnesses for the prosecution, conducted by John David Luton, first assistant district attorney, Judge Sprouse continued the preliminary because Winston’s court-appointed attorneys Gretchen Mosley and John Echols, had another murder trial in Muskogee and the prosecution witness, Iris Dalley, a retired Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) agent who investigated Caughman’s death, is now a consultant and had a conflict between her schedule and the preliminary hearing.
Luton also said that Mosley, who is pregnant and due to give birth in May, was ordered to take it easy by her doctors.
Luton said Mosley intended to take six weeks off after her baby’s birth, and others’ vacations were also interfering with the preliminary.
Mosley and Echols are with the Oklahoma Indigent defense System (OIDS) who are assigned to murder trials in which the death penalty has been requested and when the defendant cannot afford an attorney.
Caughman, 62 at the time of her death, was found on the morning of Sept. 27, lying in a pool of blood in the bathroom of her home north of Sallisaw. The state medical examiner reported Caughman was stabbed in the neck and severely beaten. Either injury would have caused her death, the medical examiner reported.
OSBI tests have indicated that Winston’s blood was found at the scene.
Witnesses have testified that Mrs. Caughman said she was frightened of Winston, who was the boyfriend of a healthcare worker who helped take care of Mrs. Caughman’s disabled son, Darren. Other witnesses testified that Mrs. Caughman did not appear frightened of Winston, and he had driven her to the hospital to visit her son.
Mosely and Echols, in their questioning of witnesses, have suggested other persons may have been involved in Mrs. Caughman’s death.
