Choate Pleads Not Guilty to Burglary After Being Found in Marble City Residence

Joshua Kale Choate

A Marble City man pleaded not guilty Oct. 15 to first-degree burglary, a felony, and three misdemeanors, court records show.

Joshua Kale Choate, 29, faces up to 20 years in prison on the burglary charge. His misdemeanor counts include malicious injury to property (under $1,000), breaking and entering with unlawful intent and public intoxication.

According to a police report, on Oct. 10 at 1:20 a.m., a Sequoyah County Sheriff’s deputy was dispatched to a Marble City residence in reference to a breaking-and-entering incident.

Upon arriving at the scene, the deputy met with the homeowners, a husband and wife, who said they were asleep in bed when they heard a loud crashing noise. When he went to the living room, the husband said he saw Choate lying on the floor and all their furniture turned over. He said he tried to talk to Choate as he was getting up and Choate started to walk toward him.

The homeowner said Choate had started reaching in his pockets for what he assumed was a knife. When he reminded Choate who he was and told him they had grown up together, Choate began to calm down and was finally persuaded to leave.

As the deputy continued speaking with the homeowner, he could hear yelling coming from nearby. He left the residence to find the sound’s source but had no luck and returned to the home. When the deputy got there he heard the yelling again and went to a residence at the end of the street to the north. 

Upon arriving there, he made contact with a middle-age man and woman standing out in their yard. The man said his boy had just walked through the yard and his mother was yelling at him. The deputy asked if his boy was Choate and the man said yes. The man also told the deputy he could probably find Choate in the woods behind his house, where he was taken into custody without incident.

Laura Brown, KXMX Staff Writer

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