Murder Trial To Start In Okla. Home Invasion Case

CHICKASHA, Okla. (AP) – The first-degree murder trial of Blanchard man in a home invasion case is to begin.

Trial is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Monday in Grady County District Court for 31-year-old Dustin Stewart on charges in the shooting death of Justin Martin by a young widow at her mobile home in Blanchard.

Stewart has pleaded not guilty. He’s charged under a state law that allows murder charges when a defendant’s accomplice is killed during a felony.

Prosecutors say Stewart and Martin broke into the home of 18-year-old Sarah McKinley on New Year’s Eve 2011 in an attempt to steal pain medicine that the two men believed McKinley’s husband had.

McKinley – whose husband had died Christmas Day of lung cancer – shot and killed Martin after calling 911.