An Oklahomakiller who was first given the death penalty 36 years ago moved closer Tuesday to execution.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined without comment to hear an appeal from Michael B. Selsor, who was convicted of killing a Tulsa convenience store clerk in 1975.
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt asked the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to set an execution date for Selsor.
Selsor, 57, was given the death penalty for killing Clayton Chandler in January 1976.
However, Oklahoma’s death penalty law was ruled unconstitutional later that year, and Selsor’s death penalty was modified to life in prison. Selsor’s convictions were later overturned when an appeals court found that he hadn’t received adequate legal counsel.
Selsor was tried again in 1998 and received the death penalty under the revised capital punishment statute. His state and federal appeals have been unsuccessful.
Selsor claimed in his latest federal appeal that he couldn’t be given the death penalty under the revised statute for a crime he committed under the one declared unconstitutional.
Moreover, he argued that it was unconstitutional double jeopardy to be given the death penalty after his first death sentence was modified to life.
However, in a 90-page opinion issued last year that cited numerous Supreme Court precedents, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Selsor’s conviction and death sentence. The Supreme Court on Monday declined to review the 10th Circuit’s decision.
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