Federal Court Rejects Tulsa Murderer's Appeal

A federal appeals court in Denver rejected the appeal of an Oklahoma man convicted of killing a 13-year-old Tulsa boy.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals handed down the ruling Friday in the case of Wayne Garrison, 53. He was convicted of first-degree murder for the death of Justin Wiles, who vanished in June 1989. Parts of Wiles' body were found in Lake Bixhoma and on the lake shore four days after his family last saw him alive.

A Tulsa County jury convicted Garrison on the murder charge in 2001 and sentenced him to death. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the murder conviction in 2004 but reversed the death sentence.

Garrison then agreed to a life prison sentence without parole and waived his right to a resentencing trial.

Garrison is serving his sentence at the Lawton Correction Center.

1/13/2007 Related Story: Wayne Garrison Given Life In Prison Without Parole