OKLAHOMA CITY – A second Lawton man with a record of multiple interactions with southwest Oklahoma law enforcement agencies was sentenced recently to 10 years in federal prison for his role in a road rage incident on the H.E. Bailey Turnpike last year.
Martavious Arnez Gross, 23, pleaded guilty March 10 to possessing and discharging a firearm during the confrontation while subject to a domestic violence protective order issued in Comanche County on July 11, 2019, announced Timothy J. Downing, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.
An affidavit filed by a federal investigator shows that the incident occurred December 11, 2019, on Interstate 44 (the turnpike), beginning in Comanche County and ending in Grady County.
According to court documents and public records, Gross was riding in a vehicle driven on the toll road by co-defendant Nathan R. Rollins, Jr.
Rollins and Gross believed they were cut off by another driver on the turnpike and caught up with the other vehicle. Gross rolled down his window, yelled at the other driver, made obscene gestures, brandished a firearm for the driver of the other vehicle to see, and then fired a pistol at the vehicle.
Responding to a 9-1-1 call, an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper located Rollins’ vehicle at mile marker 76 and clocked it at 106 miles per hour; the posted speed limit on the toll road is 75 mph. That trooper was joined by two others and eventually, they brought the vehicle to a stop at mile marker 81, at Chickasha.
After the vehicle was stopped, the initiating OHP trooper found the .40-caliber handgun that was fired by Gross, an AR-15 rifle loaded with a high-capacity magazine, two full-face masks, marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Rollins and Gross were subsequently arrested.
Senior U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton sentenced Gross on Friday to serve 120 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Heaton noted the serious nature of the offense and Gross’ significant history of violence against domestic partners and law enforcement officers.
Gross pleaded guilty in Comanche County District Court to a 2015 charge of assault and battery, a 2016 drug charge, and a 2017 charge of driving a motor vehicle in Lawton while under the influence of drugs. He also pleaded guilty in Comanche County District Court in 2017 to two felony charges of false declaration of ownership, for which he received a five-year deferred prison sentence.
Court records also show that Gross was charged in Tillman County with two counts of assault and battery on an employee of the juvenile detention center at Manitou in 2014. The case was dismissed after Gross “completed the program” at the facility, court records reflect.
Rollins was charged January 8 in federal court with possession of a firearm after a prior felony conviction, and on February 26 he pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of the AR-15 rifle.
Judge Heaton sentenced Rollins on October 9 to serve 120 months in prison, the statutory maximum for the offense, followed by three years of supervised release. Heaton said he not only considered the serious nature of Rollins’ crime but also his lengthy history of domestic violence. The judge concluded that a lengthy sentence was necessary to protect the public from Rollins’ escalating pattern of violent conduct.
Rollins was arrested by Lawton police in 2014 for driving while his license was suspended and for transporting a loaded firearm in a motor vehicle. He was given a six-month deferred sentence and fined $250.
Rollins was arrested in Lawton in 2015 for reckless conduct with a firearm. He was convicted and received a six-month suspended sentence, a $350 fine, $209 in court costs and a $240 DA’s supervision assessment.
Rollins was jailed in Lawton in September 2018 for misdemeanor assault and battery domestic abuse, and was arrested by Lawton police in March 2019 for domestic assault and battery by strangulation.
He pleaded guilty in Comanche County District Court to the assault and battery charges in September 2019. He received a three-year sentence, with six months to serve in the Comanche County Detention Center and the other two and one-half years suspended, plus a $1,000 fine, $103 in court costs, a $50 District Attorneys Council prosecution assessment, and was ordered to attend 52 weeks of domestic violence classes.
Rollins also was arrested in Lawton in September 2018 for transporting a loaded firearm in a motor vehicle. He pleaded guilty a year later and received a six-month suspended sentence and was fined $300 plus court costs.
In March 2019 Rollins was arrested in Lawton for obstructing a police officer, threatening an act of violence, and trespassing. He pleaded guilty later that year and was fined, records indicate.
The case against Gross and Rollins is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods and Project Guardian, the Department of Justice’s signature initiatives to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws, Downing said.
The case also is part of “Operation 922,” which prioritizes firearms prosecutions connected to domestic violence, including domestic violence abusers who possess a firearm and are subject to a victim protective order or have been previously convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.