Oklahoma to appeal resentencing in double slaying

TULSA (AP) — Oklahoma's attorney general plans to fight a federal appeals court ruling that calls for an Oklahoma death row inmate to be resentenced for a 1994 double slaying.

Office spokeswoman Diane Clay said Tuesday the state will petition for a rehearing at the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which handed down the opinion Monday in the Rocky Dodd case.

Dodd received two death sentences after he was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Shane McInturff and Keri Sloniker of Edmond.

The 10th Circuit found that a lower court mistakenly allowed seven relatives of the victims to recommend the death penalty for Dodd during sentencing.

Dodd's defense team had argued that it was unconstitutional for the victims' relatives to recommend the death penalty during sentencing.