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Arkansas man enters plea to second-degree murder

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Apr. 23—An Arkansas man scheduled to go to trial on Monday on a charge of second-degree murder entered a blind plea on Friday in Muskogee County District Court.

Jeffrey Wayne Dellinger, 55, of Springdale, Arkansas, also is charged with driving under the influence — great bodily injury; causing accident without valid driver’s license — death; causing accident without valid driver’s license — great bodily injury.

A jury trial for Dellinger was supposed to begin Monday, but rather than face a jury, Dellinger will rely on District Judge Bret Smith to impose a sentence in June. Dellinger has no plea agreement with the Muskogee County District Attorney’s Office.

Dellinger will be sentenced following the completion of a presentence investigation.

Dellinger was charged following the death of a passenger in the car Dellinger crashed on Interstate 40 on April 16, 2021.

According to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, the collision happened at approximately 1:30 a.m. at mile marker 282, 4 miles east of Warner. Dellinger was driving a 2003 BMW 325 westbound in the rain when he drove off the right side of the road and struck several trees before the vehicle came to rest in a tree line.

Valerie Blake, 23, of Rogers, Arkansas, was taken to Saint Francis Hospital Muskogee, where she was pronounced dead at 3:36 a.m.

Blake and Taylor Pipkin, 22, of Rogers, Arkansas, were pinned for approximately 25 minutes before being freed by the Warner Fire Department. The trooper attributed driving under the influence of drugs as the cause of the collision. Dellinger was the only person in the car wearing a seat belt, the OHP report states.

Dellinger was taken to Saint Francis Hospital Muskogee for treatment and later was arrested and booked into the Muskogee County/City Detention Facility. Pipkin and Michael Robinson, 34, of Springdale, Arkansas, were taken to Saint Francis Muskogee where Robinson was treated and released. Pipkin was transferred to Saint Francis Hospital in Tulsa, the report…

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