Muskogee man pleads guilty to second-degree murder

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Robert William Rainford, age 51, of Muskogee, entered a guilty plea to one count of Second-Degree Murder in Indian Country, punishable by imprisonment for a period of any term of years and up to life, and a $250,000 fine.

The charge arose from an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office.

On May 5, 2023, Rainford was found guilty at trial by a federal jury for one count of First-Degree Murder in Indian Country in the shooting death of Rainford’s Muskogee neighbor. Rainford appealed that conviction to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, arguing that the jury instructions given in his case limited the ability of jurors to evaluate the defenses he offered at trial. The Tenth Circuit agreed, reversing the conviction and remanding Rainford’s case to district court for a new trial.

During the plea hearing, Rainford agreed that at trial, the Government could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that on December 12, 2021, in Muskogee County, within the boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reservation, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma, Rainford unlawfully shot and killed his neighbor, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, with malice aforethought. As part of the written plea agreement, the parties agreed that a sentence of 120 months imprisonment is an appropriate disposition of the case.

Gerald L. Jackson, Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court, accepted the plea and ordered the completion of a presentence investigation report.

A U.S. District Court Judge will determine the sentence to be imposed after considering the parties’ recommendation, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and other statutory factors.

Rainford will remain in the custody of the United States Marshals Service pending sentencing.

Assistant United States Attorney Ryan Conway represented the United States at the hearing.

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