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AG Seeks New Hearing In Indian Country Death Penalty Case

Oklahoma Attorney General's Office

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt is seeking a new hearing before a federal appeals court that overturned a man's murder convictions and death sentences.

The court ruled the slayings occurred in Indian Country and the state lacked the authority to prosecute. Pruitt's office is asking the 10th Circuit Court of Appeal to reconsider the decision it handed down last month.

In 2004, 50-year-old David Magnan pleaded guilty in state court to three counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to execution. The shootings occurred in rural Seminole County.

The appeals court ruled the killings occurred on what's historically Indian land, over which the federal government, not the state, has prosecutorial authority.

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