OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the second-degree murder conviction of a man who used a baseball bat to kill a man.
The court on Friday upheld the conviction and 10 year prison sentence of 25-year-old Eric Noyola in the 2014 death of 29-year-old Ricky Betancur.
Betancur died at a hospital several days after being hit in the head with the bat during an April 2014 fight at a southeast Oklahoma City sports complex.
Defense attorneys argued that Noyola was defending friends and family from a larger group that had started the fight.
Noyola’s appeal included arguments that the jury should have been instructed on first-degree manslaughter and on the law of defense of another person.
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