By Associated Press
Oklahoma City, oK – Oklahoma court rejects death row appeal
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has rejected death row inmate Michael Dewayne Smith's request to set aside his death sentence for the murders of two people.
The court turned down Smith's appeal in a ruling handed down on Friday.
The 28-year-old Smith was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for the Feb. 22, 2002, murders of 40-year-old Janet Moore and 24-year-old Sarath "Babu" Pulluru.
At his 2003 trial, prosecutors said Moore's 26-year-old son was Smith's intended target when he burst into Moore's Oklahoma City apartment with a .357 semiautomatic handgun in each hand.
The same day, prosecutors said Smith killed Pulluru at a grocery store while intending to shoot a different store worker.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.