<p>TULSA, Okla. — A former police officer in Oklahoma has been convicted of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of his daughter’s boyfriend, but a federal jury acquitted him of first-degree murder.</p>
<p>The jury on Monday found Shannon Kepler, 60, “guilty of using and discharging a firearm in the second degree murder of Jeremey Lake, acting U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson said in a statement. It also found him guilty on an assault charge for shooting and wounding Lake’s brother.</p>
<p>The former Tulsa officer faces a minimum of 10 years up to life in prison for murder and 10 years for assault. Under federal guidelines, the sentences cannot be served concurrently.</p>
<p>Defense attorney Stan Monroe said Kepler will appeal.</p>
<p>“He’s 60 years old so there is a fair possibility he may spend the rest of his life in prison,” Monroe said. “He’s going to keep fighting … appeal after the sentencing hearing and we’ll see what the 10th Circuit (Court of Appeals) says,” Monroe said.</p>
<p>Testifying Friday, Kepler said he fired in self-defense because he thought Lake pointed a handgun at him. No gun was found at the scene.</p>
<p>Monroe has argued that someone removed the weapon and that it may be a gun that was found in a police interview room trash can days later. Police have not determined how the gun ended up in the trash can. An FBI agent said the weapon was traced to a home struck by a tornado in Moore, Oklahoma, in 2013.</p>
<p>The trial was Kepler’s fifth. His first three state trials for murder ended with hung juries, and the fourth ended with a manslaughter <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ae43a655a70e48fc85ed7611370933fa">conviction</a> and a 15 year prison term.</p>
<p>The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals <a href="https://apnews.com/article/oklahoma-shootings-tulsa-crime-da6a2a7a847e854a289e649fc084b2f8">overturned</a> that conviction based on a U.S. Supreme Court <a href="https://apnews.com/article/c90c395f1e156d37a85e59e0a21cb52a">ruling</a> that Oklahoma lacks jurisdiction for crimes on tribal reservations in which the defendants or victims are tribal citizens.</p>
<p>Kepler is a citizen of the Muskogee (Creek) Nation and the shooting occurred on land within the tribe’s historic reservation.</p>
<p>Kepler was charged in federal court in November with first- and second-degree murder and assault in anticipation of his state manslaughter conviction being overturned.</p>
<p>The jury convicted him on the second-degree murder and the assault charges.</p>
