LAWTON, Okla. (AP) -- A jury returned a guilty verdict Tuesday against a former Duncan firefighter who was accused of killing a state trooper after a struggle on a rural road in Cotton County.
After deliberating for less than two hours, the jury found Rickey Ray Malone guilty of first-degree murder. Prosecutors said they intend to seek the death penalty.
Malone, 30, was accused of shooting Oklahoma State Trooper Nikky Joe Green, 35, on Dec. 26, 2003. Green was shot twice in the back of the head. Portions of the crime were captured on Green's dashboard-mounted video camera.
Malone had testified he was operating a mobile methamphetamine lab in a car. Green approached the vehicle and ended up losing his gun in a struggle after slapping a handcuff on one of Malone's wrists. Green was shot with his own weapon.
Malone testified that he was in drug-induced haze at the time of the killing and thought he was fighting for his life against a robber. He claimed voices in his head told him to shoot Green.
District Attorney Robert Schulte said after the verdict that this was a very emotional case.
''It was just a senseless death,'' he said.
Defense attorney Cheryl Ramsey said she was not surprised by the verdict and but had hoped the jury would consider that Malone's mental capacity was harmed by methamphetamine use.
''We were hoping mental health issues would prevail,'' he said.
Schulte said in closing arguments that Green's own desire to arrest Malone without violence may have led to his death.
''Trooper Green knew he was walking up on a meth cook, he was going to be ready,'' Schulte said. ''He had every opportunity to take Malone's life, but Trooper Green tried to take him down physically and not kill Malone.
''That's the kind of person Nik Green was.''
Schulte described how Green lay on the ground and pleaded for his life before he was shot.
On the video, Green can be heard saying, ''Please don't kill me. I've got kids and a wife.'' His last words were ''Lord, Jesus Christ.''
Ramsey said in her closing arguments that Malone's mind had been ravaged by use of methamphetamine.
''This is a case of what meth can do to a person,'' she said.
''He'd been smoking meth every hour and had been awake for 21 days before the shooting.''
She said drug use and lack of sleep took away his ability to form the intent necessary to prove the first-degree murder charge against him.
Malone had testified that methamphetamine use made him paranoid. He lost jobs as a Duncan firefighter and an emergency medical technician.
The trial was moved to Comanche County because of scheduling conflicts of expert witnesses and because Cotton County has only two trial dockets each year.
At least 30 other Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers have died in the line of duty since 1941.
The last trooper to die in the line of duty was Chris Van Krevelen who was killed on Thanksgiving Day 2002 in an automobile accident while responding to a report of a train-car accident in Enid.
