Seminole Resident Sentenced For Murder In Indian Country And Firearms Charge

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Coker Dean Barker, age 37, of Seminole, Oklahoma, was sentenced to life in prison for one count of Murder in Indian Country and 120 months for Using, Carrying, Brandishing, and Discharging a Firearm During and Related to a Crime of Violence.  The sentences are set to be served consecutively to each other and to a separate conviction for escape.

The charges arose from investigations by the Seminole Police Department, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, the Texas Rangers, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

On April 10, 2023, Barker was found guilty by a federal jury at trial on one count of Murder in Indian Country and one count of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.  According to the evidence presented at trial, in April of 2019, Barker participated in brutally attacking, shooting, and killing the victim at a residence in Seminole County, within the boundaries of the Seminole Nation Reservation of Oklahoma and the Eastern District of Oklahoma.  An autopsy revealed that, during the fatal attack, the victim sustained 18 broken ribs, two punctured lungs, and multiple bullet and shotshell wounds.  After attempting to burn evidence to evade prosecution, Barker fled to the Mexican border where he was apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and returned to Oklahoma for prosecution.

The Honorable John Heil, III, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearing.  Barker will remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending transportation to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve a non-paroleable sentence of incarceration.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Gross represented the United States.