A 59-year-old Claremore man was sentenced Tuesday to 300 months in federal prison for bludgeoning and stabbing a man to death with a 16-inch machete during a violent altercation in 2017. Michael Eugene Spears, a tribal citizen, was convicted of second degree murder in the brutal killing of Mark McKinney inside a trailer owned by Spears’ sister.
The attack followed a heated disagreement between the two men on November 18, 2017. According to prosecutors, Spears launched a savage assault, repeatedly stabbing McKinney, beating him until he was unrecognizable, stealing his phone and the few dollars in his pocket, then leaving him to die on the trailer floor while he continued drinking for hours. U.S. District Judge Gregory K. Frizzell handed down the 25-year sentence, followed by five years of supervised release.
After the attack, Spears confessed to a relative, asking to borrow a truck to dump McKinney’s body in a lake. That relative alerted law enforcement the next morning. Officers recovered the victim’s body from the trailer. Evidence at the scene showed no sign of struggle initiated by the victim, undermining Spears’ claim of self-defense, prosecutors said.
U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson said the sentence reflects the brutality of the crime and the defendant’s attempt to cover it up. “The defendant’s murderous act and attempted cover-up earned him a 25-year federal prison sentence,” Johnson stated. He credited the Claremore Police Department, the FBI, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tom Duncombe and Justin Bish for securing justice for McKinney and his family.
Prosecutors had pushed for a 30-year sentence due to the extreme violence, while the defense argued for 15 years, citing Spears’ long history of alcoholism, cognitive decline, and traumatic upbringing. But federal authorities emphasized that Spears’ impaired judgment and lack of impulse control made him a continued danger to the public.
Spears was initially convicted of first degree murder in Rogers County District Court. However, after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 McGirt v. Oklahoma ruling, which affirmed tribal jurisdiction over crimes committed by Native Americans within reservation boundaries, the state conviction was vacated. As a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and with the crime occurring within the reservation, the case was transferred to federal prosecution. Second degree murder under federal law closely aligns with Oklahoma’s first degree murder statute in such cases.
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Key Facts
- State: Oklahoma
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Violent Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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