DUNCAN, Oklahoma — One of three teens accused of killing an Australian student from an Oklahoma university was charged Wednesday with murder.
Michael Dewayne Jones, 17, was charged with first-degree murder, as an adult, and denied bond during a preliminary hearing at a Duncan, Oklahoma, courthouse. Two other suspects have been charged with murder and face hearings later in November.
The teens are accused of killing Christopher Lane, 23, of Melbourne, who was shot in the back in August while jogging on a residential street in Duncan. Lane was attending East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma, on a baseball scholarship.
Chancey Allen Luna, 16, and James Francis Edwards Jr., 15, have been charged as adults with first degree murder and have court dates later in November, as does Jones.
According to police, Jones had said the teens had decided to kill someone “for the fun of it” in Duncan, a small town about 80 miles south of Oklahoma City. Police have said Jones told them they saw Lane jogging, decided to target him and then followed him in their vehicle before shooting him.
The teens face possible sentences of life in prison without parole if convicted. People who commit capital crimes before age 18 cannot be sentenced to death in the United States.
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