Oklahoma court OKs life sentence in deaths of woman, fetus

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has affirmed the life prison sentence of a 29-year-old Oklahoma man convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of a pregnant Arkansas woman and her unborn fetus.

The court handed down the decision Friday to Christopher Kenyon Simpson of Spiro. Simpson was convicted by a jury in Le Flore County in the April 2012 shooting death of 20-year-old Ka’Loni Flynn of Fort Smith, Arkansas, and the resulting death of the fetus.

Flynn’s body was found in her car on a rural road near Spiro. Prosecutors say Flynn believed Simpson was the father of her unborn child and alleged he shot Flynn because he was angry about her pregnancy.

Simpson’s defense attorney, Warren Gotcher of McAlester, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.