Murderer slashes lawyer with smuggled blade, gets life, will now face new case in attorney attack
After his handcuffs were removed in anticipation of sentencing, a convicted murderer reportedly stood behind one of his lawyers in a an Oklahoma courthouse conference room on Friday and slashed the attorney’s neck with a smuggled razor blade.
The unidentified lawyer was not seriously hurt but “did have quite a bit of blood on him,” reporter Emory Bryan said in a News On 6 video clip.
There will be an investigation to determine how defendant Kevin Sweat, 28, who was brought to the Okfuskee County Courthouse from jail and in restraints, was able to get the razor blade—apparently from a safety razor that they would have had in jail, Bryan reported—into the courtroom. Okfuskee County District Attorney Max Cook said Sweat will face new charges over the incident, Bryan reported.
KFOR, KJRH and News On 6 also have stories about Sweat’s sentencing hearing, which was held later Friday after a delay of an hour or so.
Sweat was sentenced to three life terms without parole, after pleading guilty earlier this year in the 2008 slayings of Taylor Paschal-Placker, 13, and Skyla Whitaker, 11, as well as the 2011 killing of his fiancée, Ashley Taylor. Prosecutors opted not to pursue the death penalty.
Related coverage:
Tulsa World: “With Sweat to be sentenced Friday, TV reporter shares insight into conversations with convicted killer”
