Defense Attorney Challenges Oklahoma Death Penalty For Lawton Prisoner

The attorney for a state prison inmate who's charged with murder is asking a judge to dismiss the death penalty in the case.

The Lawton Constitution reports that defense attorney Cori Grayson says lethal injections as currently used in Oklahoma are an unconstitutional form of torture.

Grayson represents 35-year-old Armando Luna on murder and conspiracy to commit murder charges in the June 2012 stabbing and beating death of Sonny Limpy at the Lawton Correctional Facility. Prosecutors say Luna helped recruit other inmates to kill Limpy because he refused to take part in a movement to unify Hispanic prison gangs.

Luna has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors say they plan to seek the death penalty -- noting that Luna was already serving life without parole for killing a man in 2007.