Preliminay hearing in death of Miami man to be continued
MIAMI, Okla. – The preliminary hearing for a Miami man accused of killing a man during a self-defense altercation was halted on Thursday when testimony lasted longer than expected.
Ottawa County shooting victim intoxicated during fatal altercation
Travis Christian Wilbur, 34, appeared in Ottawa County District Court, dressed in orange jail clothes and his feet shackled. He is charged in the Jan. 5 death of Matthew Vincent Locastro, 27, of Miami.
An autopsy report showed Locastro died from a gunshot wound to his head. His toxicology report showed he tested positive for methamphetamine and amphetamine, and his blood alcohol level registered at .18, which is over twice the legal limit in Oklahoma.
Wilbur showed little emotion during the preliminary hearing.
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent Justin Aldridge was the only witness to testify on Thursday afternoon.
Aldridge said the two men were arguing, and in a struggle over a gun, the gun discharged, striking Locastro.
"He (Wilbur) said during the struggle he thought about shooting him in the foot," Aldridge said.
As the pair continued to fight, a second gun was produced, testimony showed. Only one weapon was recovered, Aldridge testified.
Rowdy Yates, Wilbur's attorney, argued unsuccessfully that a video from a ring camera should not be admitted, citing chain of custody issues.
The video was played in the courtroom, but visual observance was difficult for courtroom observers.
In the arrest affidavit, authorities say there were a total of five gunshots heard on the recording. When the last gunshot is heard, Locastro falls to the ground, according to the affidavit.
Online records do not reflect the next court date on which the preliminary hearing was continued.
More Legal Problems
Before Wilbur's preliminary hearing began, another preliminary hearing was held on a different case involving assault and battery.
In that case, Wilbur was held over for trial on two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
Jeffrey Littlefield and Michael Wiser testified for more than an hour each about an encounter with Wilburn on July 5, 2022.
Littlefield and Wiser were at Sycamore Valley Creek on the evening of July 5. As the men were packing up to leave, they were searching for Wiser's cell phone, and a man, later identified as Wilburn, attacked the pair, testimony showed.
Wilbur reportedly said, "Do you like stealing?" and allegedly came after the pair with a bat-like object, hitting Littlefield in the ribs and his friend in the head, according to testimony.
"He had blood coming out from his temple," Littlefield testified.
Littlefield told prosecutor Chris Garner after the attack; he drove his friend to Grove INTEGRIS Hospital.
