Man Sentenced for Assaulting his Girlfriend with a Knife and Illegally Possessing a Firearm

A Tulsa man was sentenced today in federal court for cutting his girlfriend’s throat and for illegally possessing a firearm, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson.

U.S. District Judge John E. Dowdell sentenced Devin Charles Staller, 24, to 70 months in federal prison followed by 3 years of supervised release. Staller previously pleaded guilty to assault with a dangerous weapon in Indian Country and to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

“Devin Staller will spend nearly six years in federal prison where he can no longer intimidate, threaten and harm this victim,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson. “Intimate partner violence accounts for 15% of all violent crime. My office and our law enforcement partners support victims of domestic violence and will hold accountable their abusers in a court of law.”

In his written plea agreement, Staller admitted that he had intent to do bodily harm when he assaulted the female victim with a knife by cutting her throat on June 24, 2020.

He further admitted to being a felon in possession of a Montgomery Ward Savage 16 gauge pump-action shotgun. Staller had the firearm when police located him at an apartment in Tulsa on July 17, 2020. Staller was previously convicted of eight felonies.

The Tulsa Police Department, FBI and  Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Fletcher prosecuted the case. AUSA Fletcher is a prosecutor from the Northern District of Iowa. He volunteered to assist prosecution efforts here in the Northern District of Oklahoma due to increased jurisdictional responsibilities regarding crimes involving Native American victims or defendants and that occur within the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and Cherokee Nation Reservations.