NewsOn6.com - Tulsa, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports - KOTV.com | Man withdraws plea to murder charge
Associated Press - November 26, 2009 6:05 AM ET
SHAWNEE, Okla. (AP) - A Dec. 9 hearing has been scheduled for a man who withdrew his plea to a first-degree murder charge.
Kenneth Gayler entered a blind plea of guilty Nov. 9, leaving sentencing to Pottawatomie County District Judge Douglas Combs. District Attorney Richard Smothermon had sought the death penalty, but Combs imposed a term of life in prison without parole.
Gayler is accused in the Jan. 6, 2008, death of Jenny Chaffin, who was shot in the head during a pursuit that ended in Pottawatomie County.
Authorities say Gayler fled when Seminole Police Officer Adam Good tried stop his vehicle. Gayler had escaped from a Wewoka prison work detail.
Prosecutors say that as Good and Gayler exchanged gunfire, Good wounded Gayler and Chaffin.
Good was shot in the face, but recovered.
Information from: The Shawnee News-Star, http://www.news-star.com
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