Source: United States Department of Justice News
TULSA, Okla. – A Welch man was sentenced Friday in federal court for murdering his 81-year-old mother in her home on Aug. 4, 2011, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson. U.S. District Judge Gregory K. Frizzell accepted a plea agreement between the Government and the defendant and sentenced Michael Joe Rice, 58, to 540 months in federal prison. In July 2021, Rice pleaded guilty to second degree murder in Indian Country and admitted to killing his mother, Ruth Rice, by beating her to death.