Oklahoma execution scheduled for February 17th at 8 pm for Gilbert Ray Postelle for the Murder of two people on Memorial Day 2005...


An Oklahoma County judge has sentenced a man to death for the deaths of two people on Memorial Day 2005.

Gilbert Ray Postelle also was sentenced Thursday to two terms of life in prison plus 10 years for conspiracy in the slayings of four people at an Oklahoma City trailer house.

Postelle, who said nothing during his sentencing hearing, showed no emotion when the judge set a December execution date. That date is essentially meaningless because all death penalty cases are appealed automatically.

Postelle, 22, was convicted by a jury on Sept. 9 of killing James “Donnie” Swindle Jr., Amy Wright, Terry Smith and James Alderson.

Two days later, the Oklahoma County jury that heard evidence in the case decided Postelle should die for killing Wright and Alderson and spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing Swindle and Smith.

He did not react to either verdict, remaining as stone-faced as he had throughout the three-week trial.

Postelle’s trial marked the end of prolonged legal proceedings in the case, which included charges against nine other people.

“It’s a sad case that’s affected many, many, many people,” District Attorney David Prater said. “This has been a long, dark road for the surviving families of the victims.”

Defendants in the case drove to the trailer park to scare Swindle, whom they blamed for a motorcycle accident involving Earl Bradford Postelle, Gilbert Postelle’s father, according to court papers.

Prosecutors claim Swindle, Wright, Smith and Alderson were herded out of a mobile home and then someone emptied a 30-shot magazine of an AK-47 assault rifle into them. Another six shots were fired into Swindle’s head with a rifle, court papers state.