Court Upholds Murder Conviction

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – An Oklahoma appeals court has upheld the life prison sentence of a 40-year-old man who was convicted of shooting a Tulsa businessman to death.

Fred Shields was convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Neal Sweeney. Prosecutors claimed Sweeney died in a murder-for-hire plot because of a business dispute.

Sweeney, a 63-year-old former Tulsa football star, was shot in the head on Sept. 4, 2008, at his business and died the next day. Sweeney ran Retail Fuels Marketing, which had stopped fuel delivery to stores operated by a man who pleaded guilty to soliciting Sweeney’s murder.

Fred Shields’ conviction was upheld Tuesday by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. His attorney, Wyndi Hobbs of the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.