CREEK Co Court sets trial date in Oilton murder case

BRISTOW, Okla. (AP) _ An Oilton man accused of strangling a 7-year-old girl and raping her 12-year-old friend opted Thursday to be tried by a jury. <br><br>Robert W. Rotramel, 20, rejected possible negotiations

Thursday, August 9th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

BRISTOW, Okla. (AP) _ An Oilton man accused of strangling a 7-year-old girl and raping her 12-year-old friend opted Thursday to be tried by a jury.

Robert W. Rotramel, 20, rejected possible negotiations and told a judge he wished to proceed with the scheduled Dec. 3 trial, Assistant District Attorney Pamela Hammers said.

Kristi Blevins and her friend were abducted while playing outside Kristi's home nearly a year ago. Police found Rotramel and the children inside an abandoned house in Oilton, and Kristi was pronounced dead a short time later.

Hammers wouldn't say whether a plea agreement had been offered to Rotramel.

But Kristi's mother, Rhonda Blevins, told the Sapulpa Daily Herald she had agreed to a plea deal that would have given Rotramel a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Police testified in Rotramel's preliminary hearing last fall that he told them he forced the girls to the house and put Blevins in a ``sleeper hold.'' He also told the 12-year-old to perform oral sex on him and then attempted to engage in sex with her.

Juvenile records show that a juvenile court found Rotramel guilty of forcible sodomy at age 13. The court allowed him to remain in the custody of his parents.

Two months later, he was placed in the custody of the Department of Human Services to undergo a treatment program for teen-age sex offenders.