Life Sentence Upheld In Lake Tenkiller Murder

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has affirmed the life prison sentence of a 63-year-old Cherokee County man convicted in connection with the shooting death of an acquaintance.

The appeals court handed down its decision this week in the case of Robert Lee Smallen.

Smallen was convicted of first-degree murder by a Cherokee County jury in the 2007 shooting of Muskogee resident Ronny Hall, whose body was found floating in water near the Horseshoe Bend area of Lake Tenkiller.

Among other things, the court rejected allegations by Smallen that there was insufficient evidence to convict him in Hall's shooting death.

Smallen's 2010 trial was the second time he was tried in Hall's death. Smallen's first trial ended in a mistrial in 2009 when jurors couldn't reach a unanimous verdict.

Smallen is serving his sentence in the Davis Correctional Facility in Holdenville.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.