OKC Teen Found Guilty Of Killing Paralyzed Man

A jury found an Oklahoma City teenager guilty on Friday of second-degree murder for a 2018 shooting death. 

They recommended Jefferey McCoy, 19, serve 20 years in prison.

McCoy was accused of pulling the trigger and killing a man in a wheelchair.

Before deliberations, the judge told the jury they did not have a time limit. They had a lot to consider.

The suspect on trial was barely 18 years old when he was charged in the shooting death of 30-year-old Sammy Atkinson Junior. The victim was paralyzed from the waist down and in a wheelchair. 

Witnesses in Atkinson’s Northwest Oklahoma City apartment said the suspect came in the night of October 3, 2018 with a gun. They described him as hostile and agitated.

McCoy’s attorney told jurors in closing arguments the witnesses in the case are not credible and their stories changed in court.

The night of the shooting McCoy was demanding his brother’s backpack from victim. The investigation later revealed there was a gun in the backpack.

Witnesses told police there was a struggle between McCoy and the victim when the gun went off. A bullet went through the victim’s chest.

The defense said McCoy brought a gun because he was scared of the victim, a convicted drug dealer.

Prosecutors said despite his past, Atkinson did not deserve to die. 

They said McCoy not only killed the disabled man, but he pointed the gun at the witnesses, including a pregnant woman.

They also brought up that McCoy fled the shooting scene and ran from police before he was arrested.

The jury also handed down guilty verdicts for the two counts of pointing a firearm. They recommended two years prison time for each count.