Oklahoma appeals court upholds murder conviction in killing of Bishop Kelley student
BY BILL BRAUN World Staff Writer
Friday, March 08, 2013
3/08/13 at 6:01 AM
A state appeals court has upheld a murder conviction stemming from a 2009 killing in Tulsa that involved two teenagers.
In a ruling issued Thursday, the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the second-degree murder conviction and 30-year prison sentence that Theopilus "Theo" Fleming incurred at a 2010 jury trial in connection with the April 2009 fatal shooting of Kaitlyn Finnegan at a house in the 5800 block of South 94th East Place.
Finnegan, an 18-year-old senior at Bishop Kelley High School, was shot once in the chest. Fleming, who was a Jenks High School student, turned 17 about a week before the killing.
By law Fleming, now 20, is required to serve 85 percent of his sentence - 25 1/2 years - before being eligible for parole or release.
According to a background report prepared by the Department of Corrections, Fleming maintained that "it was a total accident" and wrote that "I had a gun and as I was checking it out it went off and hit Kaitlyn."
Fleming told police that he and two other people took Finnegan to a hospital after she was shot in a drive-by shooting while walking a dog.
When officers found no evidence of a shooting at the location he showed them, Fleming indicated that he accidentally shot Finnegan at the house, police reported.
Original Print Headline: Appeals court upholds 2010 murder conviction
