Oklahoma Court Rejects Convicted Killer's Appeal

Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has rejected the appeal of the convicted killer of a Lawton man.

Rickie Ray Elvaker was convicted in 2009 and sentenced to life in prison in the beating death of 28-year-old Derrick Farr.

Elvaker argued on appeal that he did not receive a fair trial. He said the jury wasn't allowed to consider the defense of voluntary intoxication, that the prosecutor referred to a previous robbery conviction and that the judge gave an "Allen charge" to encourage the jury to reach a verdict despite objections by defense attorneys.

The appeals court said in its Tuesday ruling that it found no errors by the judge or prosecutors.