Man sentenced to life in prison in connection with murder of Pawnee County Sheriff

Monday, March 6th 2006, 3:52 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- James Craig Taylor was sentenced to life in prison Monday with the possibility of parole in the shooting death of Pawnee County Sheriff Dwight Woodrell Junior.

A jury recommended the life sentence for Taylor and it was imposed by District Judge Jefferson Sellers.

Last week, the jury found Taylor guilty of second-degree felony murder in connection with the October 2001 death of Woodrell. The verdict spared Taylor from the death penalty or life prison without parole.

Testimony began February 15th in the case, which was moved to Tulsa from Pawnee County because of pretrial publicity.

Woodrell was shot to death in the early morning hours of October 13, 2001, outside Spess Oil Company in Cleveland, Oklahoma