Man convicted of 1984 fatal shooting in southeast Oklahoma

IDABEL, Okla. (AP) – A jury in southeast Oklahoma has convicted a 67-year-old man of first-degree murder in a more than three-decade old case.

Court records show Ernest Lewis was convicted Wednesday in McCurtain County and sentenced to life in prison for the 1984 shooting death of Johnny Smith at K.C.S. Lumber Company in Idabel.

An attorney for Lewis did not immediately return a phone call for comment.

Lewis and Smith both worked at the company and Lewis was charged with murder in the case in 1985, but current Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter says the charge was dismissed due to a lack of evidence.

Lewis was again charged last July after Smith’s body was exhumed and DNA testing linked evidence from the crime scene to the body.