Jurors in McCurtain County on Wednesday took less than half an hour to convict a 47-year-old man of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of an auto mechanic back in May.
On May 1, officers with the Idabel Police Department began investigating the death of 46-year-old Melvin Pondexter.
Authorities say Pondexter was stabbed in the chest at the repair shop where he worked.and investigators learned that 47-year-old Robert Coleman had been angry with Pondexter because he paid him to fix his truck, but didn’t feel like it had been fixed properly.
Ultimately, officers determined Coleman confronted Pondexter at the repair shop, which led to Pondexter’s death.
On January 24, a McCurtin County jury took 29 minutes to determine that Coleman was guilty of first-degree murder. They recommended that he be sentenced to life without parole.
Coleman will be officially sentenced on March 4.