TAHLEQUAH, Okla. -- A Fort Smith man was convicted Friday of robbing and killing the father of an Oklahoma county sheriff.
Ricky Don Rainwater, 45, was convicted of second-degree murder and first-degree robbery in Oklahoma Prosecutorial District 15 Court in the September 2018 death of Larry Lane Sr., 67, in Cherokee County, southeast of Tulsa.
The jury, after three hours of deliberation, recommended life in prison for the murder conviction, plus 20 years for the robbery conviction.
Formal sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 20.
Rainwater had argued that Lane had made unwanted sexual advances toward him on Aug. 31, 2018, and that "bothered" him, so he put Lane "to sleep," according to court reports.
Lane's son, Larry Lane Jr., is sheriff of Sequoyah County, just across the state line from Fort Smith.
Cherokee County investigators on Sept. 1, 2018, informed Sheriff Lane that his father had been strangled. They believed that Rainwater had killed Lane Sr. at the elder man's residence and stolen cash, a debit card and the victim's pickup.
Investigators said they tracked Rainwater from Tahlequah, Okla., to Memphis following a trail of debit card transactions on Lane Sr.'s card. Rainwater was arrested Sept. 3, 2018, and officers found Lane Sr.'s truck in West Memphis.
A second-degree murder charge in Oklahoma typically carries a sentence of 10 years to life in prison, said Oklahoma District Attorney Jack Thorpe.
The prosecution increased Rainwater's sentence to 20 years to life because he had a previous felony conviction for aggravated assault in Sebastian County in Arkansas, he said.
During closing statements, Thorpe told jurors "that physical evidence -- both circumstantial and direct -- all pointed to the fact that no other human being on the planet but Rainwater murdered and robbed Larry Lane Sr."
Thorpe referred to Rainwater as an "excuse-making machine."
Attorney Crystal Jackson, who represented Rainwater, said in her closing statement that he had been upfront and honest about stealing Lane Sr.'s truck, debit card and cash. She urged jurors to believe Rainwater when he said Lane Sr. made unwanted advances on the night of the homicide.
"The state wants you to just believe bits and pieces of it that fit, but they have no evidence that Ricky was lying in his statement," Jackson said.
Metro on 01/19/2020