Court Orders Hearing For Vian Man Sentenced For Killing OHP Trooper

A federal appeals court has ordered a federal judge in Muskogee to conduct a hearing on whether attorneys were ineffective when they represented an Oklahoma man convicted of federal charges and sentenced to death for killing a state trooper.

A three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ordered the hearing Wednesday for 54-year-old Kenneth Barrett of Vian. 

Barrett received the federal death sentence in 2005 after he was found guilty of intentionally killing an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper.

7/25/2007 Related Story: Court Upholds Conviction, Death Sentence In Trooper's Death

Barrett was convicted in the September 24, 1999, slaying of Trooper David "Rocky" Eales during a drug raid at Barrett's home in Sequoyah County. 

It marked the third time Barrett had been tried for Eales' death.

The OHP says Eales was a 20 year veteran and served as a trooper in Tulsa, Watonga, McAlester and on the Indian Nations Turnpike.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.