Charge against Oklahoma thrill-kill defendant upgraded to murder

The case against a Duncan, Okla., teen who cooperated with police after the shooting death of a jogger was upgraded to first-degree murder, the prosecutor said. Michael Dewayne Jones, 17, is also a suspect in two other shootings, Stephens County District Attorney Jason Hicks said. Jones was originally charged only with using a vehicle in the discharge of a weapon, and accessory to first-degree murder after the fact, in the August 2013 death of Christopher Lane, 22, an Australian national who was shot in the back while jogging in Duncan, where he was visiting his girlfriend. The killing attracted outrage in Australia and in the United States. Lane was in Oklahoma on a baseball scholarship, and prosecutors referred to the incident as a thrill killing, the (Oklahoma City) Oklahoman reported Thursday. Prosecutors dropped the counts against Jones Wednesday and filed the murder charge instead. The change means all three Duncan teenagers arrested after the drive-by shooting now face first-degree murder charges, the newspaper said. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jones, as well as defendants Chauncey Allen Luna, 16, and James Francis Edwards Jr., 16, on Nov. 20.