According to an information document filed this morning by District Attorney John Wampler, Mark Adam Prentice, 29, of 1408 E. Hemlock, shot the 34-year-old Petty "numerous times with a gun, to-wit: a 9 mm pistol, then and there and thereby inflicting certain mortal wounds in the body of said James Petty, from which mortal wounds the same did languish and die."
Petty -- a witness to the Sept. 6 shooting of Benny Ceniceros, 41, in the back yard of Ceniceros' home at 702 S. Julian -- was found dead at 8:24 a.m. Nov. 12 off the road near an intersection of South County Road 203 and East County Road 166. Prentice was arrested in the Labor Day shooting of Ceniceros on Dec. 15 and jailed under a $1 million bond.
According to a District Court affidavit filed by Robert Williams, a special agent with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, Petty had been an informant for the District III Drug Task Force and had recently been named in an affidavit against Lanny Morgan, who was -- and is -- in the Jackson County Jail on four felony counts: possession of a controlled dangerous substance within 2,000 feet of a school/park with intent to distribute, knowingly concealing stolen property, unlawful use of a police radio and possession of firearms after a conviction.
While processing the crime scene, where Petty's body was found, OSBI Agent Ray Homer made castings of the tire impressions, revealing that the vehicle believed to have been involved had two different tires on the rear -- one of which was a tire made exclusively for Wal-Mart. Homer also found 10 9-mm shell casings and noted that Petty had been shot at close range.
According to the court filing, agents learned that Petty was partying with friends at Scooters on the night of Nov. 11
and had left the nightclub in a taxi
about 1:45 a.m. Nov. 12 along with Charles Williams and Ethel Evans. They went to the residence of Ruben Ruiz at 1831 Hollywood St., where a party was going on.
Several people were at the party, including Ruben Ruiz, Martin Ruiz (also known as "Flaco"), Mark Delasantos and Diana Garcia, as well as an unknown Hispanic male.
Agents learned that the night Petty was murdered, Martin Ruiz had called another informant and asked him to come over, saying that "they had the guy that had busted Lanny Morgan at his house." That informant declined the invitation.
Through another informant, agents learned that Garcia had driven Petty to the location where he was murdered and that Prentice had told her to do so. The informant said that Garcia had witnessed Prentice shooting Petty in the neck "and then heard multiple gunshots."
Garcia, 28, of Olustee, was jailed on $2 million bond as a material witness in the homicide. According to the affidavit, she first denied any knowledge of the murder but later admitted driving Petty to the location. Prentice had called Garcia during the party at Ruiz's house and asked her for a favor: "to bring Petty out to the 'creeping' spot" -- a location commonly known to certain individuals in Altus.
According to the affidavit, Garcia borrowed Stephanie Ravilla's car, left the party with Petty and drove to the "creeping spot." A few minutes after they arrived, "a masked man opened the passenger side door and pulled Petty from the car. The masked man then pointed a gun at Garcia and told her to leave, which she did."
Garcia said she did not see the masked gunman shoot Petty, but did not see anyone else at the spot either.
On Nov. 18 Prentice called Ravilla and asked her to meet him at his detail shop, according to the affidavit. He told her that he needed to put new tires on her vehicle. Since she was scared of Prentice, and she knew something had happened the night of the party, she agreed. Prentice and Ravilla went to Smiley's Tire Shop in Altus, where Prentice paid cash for four new tires.
An employee at Smiley's confirmed that Prentice had paid cash for the new tires and that he took the old tires with him. On Dec. 10, Prentice asked the tire shop owner to remove Ravilla's name from the shop's computer. Prentice was told that the computer would not allow her name to be removed
After Prentice's arrest Dec. 15 in the Ceniceros shooting, agents found two masks during a search of his residence -- a white mask in the bedroom closet and a Los Angeles Raiders mask in a dresser drawer. Garcia had described the mask worn by the gunman as a black, leathery mask. When shown two pictures of the Raiders mask, Garcia could not confirm it as being the one worn by the gunman.
The same day as the murder, the affidavit says, Prentice was interviewed by OSBI agents, and he observed them looking at the tires on his vehicle. Six days later, he paid cash to have the tires replaced on the vehicle that was used to bring Petty to the place where he was murdered.
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