Sallisaw police said that at about 3:24 a.m. Nov. 1, Cpl. Ronnie Davis, Lt. Beau Gabbert, and Officers De Shawna Barron and Carl Mullins responded to a call about a man who was assaulted at Downtown Apartments in Sallisaw.
Police said Cpl. Davis found Brian Herron, 31, with massive head wounds lying on a couch in the apartment. He was taken to Sequoyah Memorial Hospital in Sallisaw, and was later transferred to Sparks Regional Medical Center in Fort Smith, Ark., for emergency surgery. Herron's mother, Mary Sue Herron, said in an e-mail to Your TIMES that her son was recently placed back into the hospital's intensive care unit.
Herron's girlfriend, Shayla Hutson, and a friend, Charles Condra, found Herron in the apartment and called 9-1-1.
Lt. David Bethany and Detective Sandra Girdner were called to the scene to investigate. Sallisaw officers and the Sequoyah County Sheriff's Office later arrested the two suspects allegedly responsible for the assault.
James David Merrick, 22, and Jack Edward Gandy, 22, both of Sallisaw, are each facing a felony charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Merrick was released Dec. 16 from the Sequoyah County Jail in Sallisaw on a $40,000 bond, and Gandy was released from the county jail Jan. 3 on a $40,000 bond.
According to court records, Merrick and Gandy have previous felony convictions. Gandy was charged with rape in Arkansas. Merrick has two prior felonies connected to various counts of burglary and concealing stolen property in Sequoyah County and was out of jail on a plea agreement when the alleged assault on Herron took place.
Jeff Sheridan, Sequoyah County assistant district attorney, said the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, which is conducting the DNA testing, indicated that the testing would be complete in the next 90 days. Sheridan said it is known that two people were at the scene during the assault, but there have been allegations of a third person at the scene.
Sheridan said Gandy is believed to be the one who committed the assault. "He's the main actor," he said.
Because Gandy has a former felony conviction, if he is found guilty, the range of punishment would be 10 years to life in prison, Sheridan said.
According to court records, a witness told police that Merrick and Herron had been in an argument hours before the assault took place.
A witness told police that Gandy and Merrick told him they were going to beat up someone. The witness told police that he saw Gandy later covered in blood. Merrick allegedly told the witness that Gandy had beaten someone up. When Merrick and Gandy got cleaned up, the witness said they went to a field and threw a bloody gray shirt and a tool used in the assault into the bushes, according to court records.
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