Jeff Sheridan, assistant district attorney, said Monday that Shawn Elliott Dees faces four years to life in prison for the first-degree manslaughter charge. Sheridan said Monday morning Dees entered a blind plea, meaning a plea where the amount of prison time is unknown until sentencing.
Sheridan said a pre-sentencing investigation was ordered, and Dees' sentencing is set at 10 a.m. Nov. 14.
Dees, 30, of Panama is accused of reckless handling of a firearm, which resulted in the 2002 death of Rick Neal Williamson, 43, also of Panama. Williamson was killed by a single shot to the head with a .22-caliber rifle.
"The basis of the manslaughter charge is reckless handling of a firearm," Sheridan said.
Sequoyah County District Attorney Richard Gray said his office was prepared and eager to proceed to trial.
"I do not have the authority to stop a defendant from pleading guilty and throwing himself on the mercy of the court, avoiding being sentenced by a jury of his peers," Gray said. "I want to extend my condolences to the family of Mr. Williamson, and I regret being deprived of an opportunity to represent the citizens of Sequoyah County in trial.
"Victim impact evidence will be presented at his sentencing, and I will ask the court for the penalty commensurate with the crime - life in prison."
According to court records, sheriff's deputies were first dispatched to the scene where Williamson was killed after receiving a call that a man had been shot on Dogwood Street at the bridge over Little Sallisaw Creek.
Sequoyah County Sheriff Johnny Philpot said in August 2002 that Dees and Williamson drove up to the bridge over Little Sallisaw Creek about one and a half miles south of Sallisaw when Dees approached several men who worked for a tree service.
Dees allegedly asked the men if they minded if he and Williamson did some shooting. Dees then walked back to the truck, took out a rifle with a scope, loaded six or seven shells into the gun, and began to sight the scope in several directions, Philpot said.
The witnesses said the passenger never got out of the truck, and the witnesses went back to what they were doing when they heard a single gunshot. When they turned around, the passenger was slumped over and Dees was running around the truck to the passenger. Dees dropped the gun he was holding on the ground and pulled the body from the truck while yelling at the workers, "Help me. Help me."
One of the witnesses walked over, picked up the gun and put it in one of their work trucks to secure it. Dees went to the truck and a struggle ensued, in which one witness was elbowed. Dees recovered the gun, got in his truck and left.
Accompanied by his father and his ex-wife, Dees later surrendered. When asked about the shooting, Dees allegedly said, "I didn't mean to do it. The gun just went off."
Dees took Philpot and deputies to Tower Estates south of U.S. Highway 64 between Sallisaw and Muldrow, where Dees' truck and the victim were located.
Dees maintained that he accidentally shot Williamson.
"We were just playing around and the gun fired," Dees allegedly told police. "I don't know how it went off."
Dees said he panicked after the shooting and placed the victim in the back of his truck, drove to Tower Estates, removed the body and left it in some weeds. Dees said he then left by foot, following the railroad tracks to his ex-wife's house in Sallisaw.
Dees said he hid the weapon in a hollow log. Search dogs later located the rifle
