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January 15, 2010

Date reset in murder trial

By BOB GIBBINS



A first-degree murder trial scheduled this week has been reset for trial in April.

The case of Robert Lee Smallen, 57, was set to be retried this week. Smallen is charged with the July 2007 shooting death of Ronny Hall, of Muskogee. His first trial last spring ended in a mistrial when jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict.

A court minute filed Thursday states the case has been passed to April 12 at 10 a.m. That will be approximately a year after the first trial.

The record also shows the case has been assigned to District Judge Jeff Payton. Payton presided at the first trial.

Assistant District Attorney David Pierce prosecuted the case and Rex Earl Starr, a Stilwell attorney, represented Smallen.

A second man has since been charged with Hall’s death.

Daniel Prentice Thornburg, 40, was charged with first-degree murder last October alleging he aided Smallen in the shooting. Prosecutors initially had Thornburg as an eyewitness against Smallen.

They cited his multiple versions of how the shooting occurred as part of the reason they chose to also charge him with the murder count. Pierce said Thornburg’s arraignment that jurors in the original Smallen trial didn’t believe Thornburg and that was part of the reason they couldn’t determine Smallen’s guilt or innocence.

Thornburg and Smallen are both free on bond. Thornburg is represented by Gretchen Mosley, of the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System’s Sapulpa office.

Thornburg faces a Feb. 10 preliminary hearing.

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