Inmate: Windel R. Workman
ODOC#: 162244
OSBI#: 208647
FBI#: 785220fa2
Birthdate: 01/07/1958
Race: White
Sex: Male
Height: 5 ft. 8 in.
Weight: 165 pounds
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Hazel
County of Conviction: Oklahoma
Location: Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Mcalester

Oklahoma Attorney General News Release

06/24/04 News Release - W.A. Drew Edmondson, Attorney General

Workman Execution Date Set

Attorney General Drew Edmondson today asked the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to set an execution date for Oklahoma County death row inmate Windel Ray Workman. The United States Supreme Court today denied Workman’s final appeal.

Workman, 46, was convicted and sentenced to death for the Jan. 10, 1987, murder of Amanda Holman, 2. Holman died of a subdural hemorrhage after being severely beaten by Workman. Holman was the daughter of Workman’s live-in girlfriend. Workman initially told investigators Holman had fallen three times from the bed and bathtub. The medical examiner detailed extensive injuries to Holman’s head, abdomen and buttocks and testified that her death was caused by a blunt head injury.

“It is the practice of this office, before an execution date is requested, to examine each case to determine if the testing of DNA evidence should occur,” said Edmondson. “We have determined, after a thorough review of this case, that DNA testing would be of no value and would have no relevance as to actual innocence. I see nothing that should stand in the way of this execution being carried out.”

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals today set Aug. 26 as the execution date for Oklahoma County death row inmate Windel Ray Workman. Workman, 46, was convicted and sentenced to death for the Jan. 10, 1987, murder of Amanda Holman, 2, in Oklahoma City. Holman died of a subdural hemorrhage after being severely beaten by Workman. Holman was the daughter of Workman's girlfriend. The court initially set an Aug. 19 execution date, but a new date was requested because the state's lawyer and defense attorneys had previous conflicts.

ProDeathPenalty.Com

Windel Ray Workman was tried by a jury in Oklahoma and convicted of the first-degree child abuse murder of his live-in girlfriend's two-year-old daughter. The girl, Amanda Holman, was pronounced dead upon arrival at South Community Hospital in Oklahoma City on the morning of January 10, 1987. The emergency room doctor and nurse who unsuccessfully attempted to revive Amanda observed numerous bruises on the girl's face, chest, back and buttocks, and suspected child abuse.

The police were called to the hospital and spoke with Workman about Amanda's injuries. Workman told them that Amanda had fallen backwards out of bed the night before. He also admitted to spanking the child hard, leaving bruises on her body. He played "pitch" with Amanda, in which he threw the girl up in the air and caught her. Amanda's pediatricians testified, however, that her injuries could not have resulted from these activities alone and she was not a child who bruised easily.

According to the medical examiner, Amanda had died from blunt head injury. Her death was a homicide, not a result of accident. Any of Amanda's three serious head injuries could have killed her, and he noted additional injury to the child's abdomen and buttocks. Moreover, because bruising cannot occur post-mortem, the injuries observed must have been inflicted before her death. Had Amanda's injuries been the result of a fall as Workman claimed, such a fall must have been from at least ten feet. The physician in charge of the emergency room at Children's Hospital revised upward the medical examiner's estimate of the height of a fall that could have inflicted similar injuries, concluding that such injuries might result from a fall from a two or three-story building. The doctor from the Children's Hospital also concluded that, on the basis of the autopsy report, photos of Amanda, and discussions with the medical examiner, Amanda had been "most definitely" a victim of child abuse.

Witnesses established that Amanda had been in Workman's care during the time she incurred her injuries. Several employees of the child's daycare testified that they had noticed bruises and other injuries on Amanda in the days preceding her death. Amanda cried when Workman came to pick her up from the center. January 7, 1987 was the last day that Workman picked Amanda up from daycare. On that day, the girl screamed and cried when she saw Workman at the door. She climbed into the lap of a stranger and wet her pants. Workman's comment about Amanda's behavior was that the child, for some reason, "doesn't like me." Workman kept Amanda home by himself on January 8th and 9th. He testified that he heard Amanda fall in her room on the 8th and believed that she had hit a dresser. The two-year-old told him that her stomach hurt afterwards.

On cross-examination, Workman admitted spanking Amanda on the 8th. According to Workman, on the 9th, Amanda fell again in the bathtub. Workman did not tell the police about this fall in initial interviews because he said he had left her unaccompanied at the time, in contravention to a promise he had made her mother. That evening, Amanda began to vomit. After Amanda could not be resuscitated on the 10th, Workman and the girl's mother took her to the hospital, and she was pronounced dead on arrival. Amanda's pediatricians testified that Amanda's mother had been a concerned parent, bringing Amanda in for treatment of even minor injuries. By contrast, Workman's own witness, his second wife, had seen Workman spank their daughter too hard two or three times, causing the child to wet her pants. The jury convicted Workman of child abuse murder in the first degree.

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Windel Workman, OK; EXECUTED -- OUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS GO OUT TO THOSE WHO SURVIVE HIM .

Reuters, McAlester, Okla. (Aug. 26): Oklahoma executed a man by lethal injection on Thursday for murdering a 2-year-old girl in 1987. In a final statement while strapped to a gurney in the death chamber, Workman spoke to his two lawyers. "Thanks for everything you've done," he said. "I appreciate it. Keep up the good fight. Understand what I'm saying? OK, let's go."

The full text of the original alert follows.

August 26, 2004 - 6 p.m. CST

The state of Oklahoma is scheduled to execute Windel Workman, a white man, August 26 for the 1985 murder of Amanda Hollman in Oklahoma City. Amanda, who was two years old at the time, was the daughter of Mr. Workman’s girlfriend and had injuries consistent with being hit with a hand or being thrown against a wall. Amanda would have been 19 this year.

Four tenths of a single percent (0.4%) of all murders end in an execution. The category of people who fit into this statistic is broad. Many are mentally ill. Many are guilty. Most had ineffective lawyers. Most have experienced tragedy or abuse in their formative years. Beyond that, there is no rhyme or reason that explains the difference between those who end up with a life sentence and those who receive a death sentence.

There is further controversy surrounding Mr. Workman’s trial. The prosecution introduced two videotapes into evidence. One videotape was of Mr. Workman’s confession. The other tape showed officers sitting around and talking about the case. The officers repeatedly gave their personal opinions that the appellant was lying, speculated as to the reasons why the appellant beat the victim, detailed the anticipated testimony of the medical examiner and other witnesses, accused Mr. Workman of having abused in the past, and insinuated that he had a problem with abusing children.

None of this testimony should have been allowed at trial as it is considered hearsay evidence. However, the videotape was allowed and shown to the jury.

Mr. Workman has been in prison for 17 years. If he is executed this month, what crimes are being deterred? It costs hundreds of thousands of dollars more to send a defendant through the death penalty appellate process than to keep them in prison for life. Many death sentences are overturned and this money has been thrown away, chasing an execution. Where could the money be better spent?

Mr. Workman will be executed by the state of Oklahoma at 6 p.m. CST. Please keep him, his family, and the family of Amanda Hollman in your thoughts. Please take a moment to contact Gov. Brad Henry and urge him to stop this execution.

Reuters News

"Oklahoma Man Executed for 1987 Murder of Toddler." (Thu Aug 26, 2004 08:35 PM ET)

MCALESTER, Oklahoma (Reuters) - Oklahoma executed a man by lethal injection on Thursday for murdering a 2-year-old girl in 1987.

Windel Ray Workman, 46, was condemned for beating Amanda Holman, his then-girlfriend's daughter, to death. An autopsy showed Holman had received three major head wounds and blows to the torso that were inconsistent with a fall from a crib, as Workman claim happened to the toddler.

In a final statement while strapped to a gurney in the death chamber, Workman spoke to his two lawyers. "Thanks for everything you've done," he said. "I appreciate it. Keep up the good fight. Understand what I'm saying? OK, let's go."

Workman was the sixth person executed in Oklahoma this year and the 158th since the state reinstated capital punishment in 1977, one year after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a national death penalty ban.

For his final meal, Workman requested a combination barbecue meat dinner and iced tea.

McAlester News-Democrat

"Child killer to die Thursday," by Doug Russell. (Wednesday, August 25, 2004)

In many ways, Amanda Holman was a typical child. She earned childhood's normal bumps and bruises when she was learning to walk. She cried for her mother when they were apart. When the television commercials for the claymation California Raisins came on, she'd stop what she was doing, watching and dancing until the commercials were over. She had asthma and, no matter how small the problem, her mother would often run her to the emergency room for treatment. For example, there was the time a hamster bit her on the finger, something the emergency room doctor treated with an antibiotic cream and a Snoopy Band Aid.

She was a typical child, and made a child's typical messes, like the handprints she put all over a large mirror in her home. Cleaning away the handprints was hard. By the time her mother got around to it, Amanda had been buried for weeks, dead of injuries suffered while she was being physically abused.

Her mother's boyfriend was convicted of the murder and, Thursday night, is scheduled to die himself; the sixth Oklahoma death row inmate executed in 2004. But Windel Ray Workman has never admitted killing the 2-year-old girl. Instead, he and his attorneys say someone else was responsible for the murder.

"If Windel is executed, the state of Oklahoma will have put to death an innocent man," said Norman attorney Steven M. Presson, who represented Workman on appeal. Presson said Workman often cared for Amanda Holman, but so did several others, including Rebecca Holman and Workman's brother, Tracy Workman. He added that police "zeroed in" on Windel Workman as a suspect and never looked for others who could have been responsible for Amanda Holman's injuries, which a state medical examiner likened to injuries suffered in a car wreck. The state Pardon and Parole Board didn't believe the inmate's claims, and denied clemency to him earlier this month.

Rebecca Holman said she doesn't have time for Workman's accusations. She said she's ready for him to die, but mostly she wants to remember her daughter. "Amanda taught me that trees talk if you will only listen," she said, adding that one day while the two of them were sitting on the porch, Amanda kept looking up into a tree. When Rebecca asked her daughter what she was looking at "She looked at me and smiled. She told me 'the trees are talking.'

"I listened, and for the first time in my life, I heard the wind blowing through the leaves, causing the trees to talk. "When times get rough, I take time out to listen to the trees. I find it a comfort to know that she too may be sitting under a tree in Heaven, listening to the birds and trees she loved while she was here."

For his last meal, Workman has requested a combination barbecue platter and an unsweetened 32-ounce iced tea.

Denton Record-Chronicle

"Oklahoma man executed in '87 death." (AP Thursday, August 26, 2004)

McALESTER, Okla. – Windel Ray Workman was executed by injection Thursday for the 1987 beating death of his live-in girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter. He became the sixth person executed in Oklahoma this year and the 158th in state history.

Mr. Workman, 46, was convicted in Oklahoma County and sentenced to die for the Jan. 10, 1987, killing of Amanda Holman, who had bruises on her face, chest, back and buttocks. Mr. Workman maintained his innocence and claimed the bruises were caused by Amanda's falls from her bed and in the bathtub. Later, he claimed that either Amanda's mom or grandmother were at fault.

Three doctors who treated or examined Amanda, who died of blunt head trauma, said her injuries were consistent with being hit by a fist, a hard object or being slammed into a wall, court records say. Testimony, including Workman's, indicated he had sole custody of the girl during the time her injuries occurred. Court records show he had a history of abusing the child.

Channel 5 Oklahoma.Com

"Workman Executed For 1987 Murder; Convicted Killer Maintained Innocence Until End Of Life. (UPDATED: 6:22 pm CDT August 26, 2004)

McALESTER, Okla. -- Windel Ray Workman was executed by lethal injection Thursday for the 1987 beating death of his live-in girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter. Workman died at 6:08 p.m. after receiving a fatal cocktail of drugs at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He became the sixth person executed in Oklahoma this year and the 158th in state history.

Workman, 46, was convicted in Oklahoma County and sentenced to die for the Jan. 10, 1987, killing of Amanda Holman, who had bruises on her face, chest, back and buttocks. Workman maintained his innocence and claimed the bruises were caused by Amanda's falls from her bed and in the bathtub. Later, he claimed that either Amanda's mom or grandmother were at fault.

But the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals and the 10th U.S. Circuit of Appeals in Denver denied Workman's last-ditch efforts to save himself Thursday, rejecting his claims of innocence and inadequate trial defense. He did not appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board had denied clemency Aug. 5.

Three doctors who treated or examined Amanda, who died of blunt head trauma, said her injuries were consistent with being hit by a fist, a hard object or being slammed into a wall, court records say. Testimony, including Workman's, indicated he had sole custody of the girl during the time her injuries occurred. Court records show he had a history of abusing the child.

NewsOK.Com

"Ex-Officer Recalls Slain Girl," by Carrie Coppernoll. (August 26, 2004)

Former Oklahoma City police officer Michael Roach always will remember Amanda Holman. He and his partner investigated her murder and interrogated the man who was convicted of beating the 2-year-old to death in 1987. "I think the reason that it stuck with me over the years is the fact that Amanda had no control over her life," Roach said. "She was an essentially helpless victim."

Windel Ray Workman was convicted of causing the head and body injuries that were responsible for the toddler's death. He is scheduled to be executed tonight at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

Roach's partner, Monte Fairchild, said he clearly remembers interviewing Workman. "He seemed very cold and callous -- not remorseful at all about what had happened," the retired police officer said. "Everything was about taking care of Windel and protecting himself. And there was nothing to indicate he had any emotional feelings about what happened to the baby, to the child."

Workman's case will be the fifth investigation Fairchild has worked on that has ended with an execution. "The shock value is gone," Fairchild said. "The first one, it kind of makes you stop and think. ... This time, what has to be done, has to be done."

Workman v. State, 824 P.2d 378 (Okl.Cr. 1991) (Direct Appeal).

Defendant was convicted of murdering 28-month-old child of his live-in girlfriend and the jury set punishment at death. Judgment was entered in the District Court, Oklahoma County, John M. Amick, J. Defendant appealed. The Court of Criminal Appeals, Johnson, J., held that: (1) trial court was not required to excuse for cause juror who said she had seen television report of crime and expressed belief that her ability to be impartial had been impaired; (2) evidence supported conviction; and (3) defendant had not received ineffective assistance of counsel. Affirmed. Brett and Parks, JJ., dissented and filed opinions.

JOHNSON, Judge:
Windel Ray Workman, appellant, was tried by jury for the crime of Murder in the First Degree in the District Court of Oklahoma County, Case No. CRF-87- 254. Appellant was represented by counsel. The jury returned a verdict of guilty and set punishment at death. The trial court sentenced the appellant in accordance with the jury's verdict. From this Judgment and Sentence, appellant appeals to this Court.

At about 10:30 a.m. on January 10, 1987, the appellant and his live-in girlfriend, Rebecca Holman, brought twenty-eight month old Amanda Holman, Rebecca's daughter, to South Community Hospital. Amanda had been left with the appellant at his home in Oklahoma City the two days preceding her death. At trial, a forensic pathologist testified that Amanda had been severely beaten, and that as a result, she developed a subdural hemorrhage which led to her death. The emergency room physician also testified that Amanda was a victim of the battered child syndrome.

The appellant testified that during the last two days, Amanda had fallen three times; once off her bed hitting a dresser, then out of the bathtub, and finally off the bed again, this time hitting her head on the floor.

* * * *

Appellant next contends that there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction. In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence, we must determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt. Schultz v. State, 749 P.2d 559, 562 (Okl.Cr.1988). The evidence is reviewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution. Id.

After a review of the record in the present case, we find that sufficient evidence was presented. After observing numerous bruises on Amanda's face, chest and buttocks, the emergency room doctor and nurse suspected child abuse and contacted the police. The medical examiner detailed extensive injuries to her head, abdomen and buttocks and testified that Amanda's death was caused by a blunt head injury which resulted in subdural hemorrhage. He testified that the fatal injuries occurred within two days of her death. Both physicians agreed that her death was the result of child abuse rather than by accidental falls as described by the appellant. Finally, the appellant admitted that Amanda had been mainly in his care the two days prior to her death. We find this assignment to be without merit. We further find that the trial court correctly overruled the appellant's motion for a directed verdict.

Appellant next asserts that the trial court erred in refusing to grant any of his several requests for a mistrial. However, the appellant has failed to cite any relevant authority in support of his contention. Foster v. State, 742 P.2d 1131, 1135 (Okl.Cr.1987). Thus, this assignment is not properly preserved for review.

Appellant next argues that the trial court erred in admitting two photographs, depicting Amanda's face and buttocks, into evidence. Specifically, appellant complains that the photographs were taken after an autopsy, thereby confusing pre-mortem bruising with post-mortem lividity. Admittedly, these two photographs depict a heartbreaking scene of a child with numerous bruises over her body. Nevertheless, these photographs are admissible if their probative value outweighs their prejudicial effect. Grayson v. State, 747 P.2d 971, 974 (Okl.Cr.1987).

Absent an abuse of discretion, the ruling of the trial court will not be disturbed. Id. In the present case, the photographs served to corroborate the testimony of several witnesses as to Amanda's physical appearance, and that the color of the appellant's pictures appeared to be too light. They also indicated the various injuries suffered by Amanda, and tended to refute the appellant's explanation of accidental fallings. Moreover, a review of the photographs reveals no evidence that an autopsy had been performed. This assignment of error is without merit.

* * * *

Appellant contends that the jury instruction concerning the aggravating circumstance that "the murder was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel" was unconstitutionally vague. A review of the record reveals that the trial court used OUJI-CR 436. (O.R. 98). Therefore, the jury was apprised that the aggravating circumstance was limited to instances where torture or serious physical abuse preceded death. See Stouffer v. State, 742 P.2d 562 (Okl.Cr.1987). After a review of the record, we find sufficient evidence of serious physical abuse to support this aggravating circumstance.

Appellant also asserts that the other aggravating circumstance found by the jury, that "there exists a probability the defendant would commit criminal act of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society," is both unconstitutionally vague and unsupported by the evidence. Appellant further asserts that there must be some evidence that the appellant was predisposed to direct an act of violence towards other members of society.

This Court has repeatedly upheld the validity of this particular circumstance. Rojem v. State, 753 P.2d 359, 369 (Okl.Cr.1988). See also Barefoot v. Estelle, 463 U.S. 880, 896-97, 103 S.Ct. 3383, 3396, 77 L.Ed.2d 1090, 1106 (1983) and Jurek v. Texas, 428 U.S. 262, 96 S.Ct. 2950, 49 L.Ed.2d 929 (1976). Moreover, this Court has consistently held that the calloused manner in which a crime is committed may support a finding of a continuous threat. Fisher v. State, 736 P.2d 1003, 1009 (Okl.Cr.1987). After a review of the record, we also find sufficient evidence to support this aggravating circumstance. We have reviewed the record in fulfillment of our statutory duty to determine whether the sentence of death was imposed under the influence of passion, prejudice, or other arbitrary factor. 21 O.S.Supp.1986, § 701.13. We find that it was not. We further find that both aggravating circumstances, i.e., that the murder was heinous, atrocious, or cruel and the existence of the risk of future dangerousness to society, are sufficiently supported by the evidence.

Finding no error warranting reversal or modification, Judgment and Sentence is AFFIRMED. AN APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA COUNTY, OKLAHOMA; THE HONORABLE JOHN M. AMICK, DISTRICT JUDGE. WINDEL RAY WORKMAN, appellant, was tried by jury for the crime of Murder in the First Degree in the District Court of Oklahoma County, Case No. CRF-87- 254, before the Honorable John M. Amick, District Judge. The jury returned a verdict of guilty and set punishment at death. The trial court sentenced the appellant in accordance with the jury's verdict. From this Judgment and Sentence, appellant appeals. AFFIRMED.

Workman v. Mullin, 342 F.3d 1100 (10th Cir. 2003) (Habeas).

After petitioner's first-degree child abuse murder and death sentence were affirmed on direct appeal, 824 P.2d 378, petitioner filed for federal writ of habeas corpus. The United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, Tim Leonard, J., denied petition. Petitioner appealed. The Court of Appeals, Ebel, Circuit Judge, held that: (1) petitioner could not establish that his interests were compromised by defense counsel's alleged conflict of interest in representing defendant's brother in separate drug prosecution; (2) petitioner procedurally exhausted his claim that jury instructions did not require jury to make finding as to his culpability for victim's death, so that imposition of death penalty violated the Eighth Amendment; (3) Eighth Amendment's culpability determination for imposition of death penalty was satisfied; and (4)"heinous, atrocious, or cruel" aggravating circumstance, supporting imposition of death penalty, was not unconstitutionally vague as applied to petitioner. Affirmed.

EBEL, Circuit Judge.
Petitioner-Appellant, Windel Ray Workman, was convicted and sentenced to death by a jury in Oklahoma state court for felony first-degree child abuse murder. He petitions for a writ of habeas corpus for relief in federal court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. He objects to his death sentence on the ground that, although the jury found that he had killed a child during the course of the felony of child abuse, the verdict did not sufficiently determine his degree of culpability as required by the Supreme Court cases of Enmund v. Florida, 458 U.S. 782, 798, 102 S.Ct. 3368, 73 L.Ed.2d 1140 (1982), or Tison v. Arizona, 481 U.S. 137, 157, 107 S.Ct. 1676, 95 L.Ed.2d 127 (1987) , such that the State may impose the death penalty on him. We AFFIRM the district court's dismissal of Workman's petition for a writ of habeas corpus. We hold that an additional culpability finding as might be required by Enmund or Tison in order to apply the death penalty for a felony murder conviction *1104 does not apply when the defendant actually killed his victim, as was the case here.

BACKGROUND

Windel Ray Workman was tried by a jury in Oklahoma and convicted of the first-degree child abuse murder of his live-in girlfriend's two-year-old daughter. Workman v. State, 824 P.2d 378, 380 (Okla.Crim.App.1991). The girl, Amanda Holman, was pronounced dead upon arrival at South Community Hospital in Oklahoma City on the morning of January 10, 1987. The emergency room doctor and nurse who unsuccessfully attempted to revive Amanda observed numerous bruises on the girl's face, chest, back and buttocks, and suspected child abuse.

The police were called to the hospital and spoke with Workman about Amanda's injuries. Workman told them that Amanda had fallen backwards out of bed the night before. He also admitted to spanking the child hard, leaving bruises on her body. He played "pitch" with Amanda, in which he threw the girl up in the air and caught her. Amanda's pediatricians testified, however, that her injuries could not have resulted from these activities alone and she was not a child who bruised easily. According to the medical examiner, Amanda had died from blunt head injury. Her death was a homicide, not a result of accident. Any of Amanda's three serious head injuries could have killed her, and he noted additional injury to the child's abdomen and buttocks. Moreover, because bruising cannot occur post-mortem, the injuries observed must have been inflicted before her death. Had Amanda's injuries been the result of a fall as Workman claimed, such a fall must have been from at least ten feet. The physician in charge of the emergency room at Children's Hospital revised upward the medical examiner's estimate of the height of a fall that could have inflicted similar injuries, concluding that such injuries might result from a fall from a two or three-story building. The doctor from the Children's Hospital also concluded that, on the basis of the autopsy report, photos of Amanda, and discussions with the medical examiner, Amanda had been "most definitely" a victim of child abuse.

Witnesses established that Amanda had been in Workman's care during the time she incurred her injuries. Several employees of the child's daycare testified that they had noticed bruises and other injuries on Amanda in the days preceding her death. Amanda cried when Workman came to pick her up from the center.

January 7, 1987 was the last day that Workman picked Amanda up from daycare. On that day, the girl screamed and cried when she saw Workman at the door. She climbed into the lap of a stranger and wet her pants. Workman's comment about Amanda's behavior was that the child, for some reason, "doesn't like me."

Workman kept Amanda home by himself on January 8th and 9th. He testified that he heard Amanda fall in her room on the 8th and believed that she had hit a dresser. The two-year-old told him that her stomach hurt afterwards. On cross-examination, Workman admitted spanking Amanda on the 8th. According to Workman, on the 9th, Amanda fell again in the bathtub. Workman did not tell the police about this fall in initial interviews because he said he had left her unaccompanied at the time, in contravention to a promise he had made her mother. That evening, Amanda began to vomit. After Amanda could not be resuscitated on the 10th, Workman and the girl's mother took her to the hospital, and she was pronounced dead on arrival. Amanda's pediatricians testified that Amanda's mother had been a concerned parent, bringing Amanda in for treatment *1105 of even minor injuries. By contrast, Workman's own witness, his second wife, had seen Workman spank their daughter too hard two or three times, causing the child to wet her pants.

The jury convicted Workman of child abuse murder in the first degree. [FN1] The jury was instructed that the elements of the crime were (1) "The death of a human being;" (2) "That this human being was under the age of eighteen years;" (3) that "The death occurred as a result of the willful or malicious use of unreasonable force upon the child;" and (4) that these actions had been committed "By the defendant Windel Ray Workman." Jury Instruction No. 6. During the sentencing stage of Workman's trial, the jury found the existence of aggravating circumstances, including that the murder was "especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel," and recommended imposition of the death penalty. See Okla. Stat. tit. 21, § 701.12(4).

FN1. Child abuse murder in Oklahoma is similar to felony murder in that it does not require a specific intent to kill. Malicoat v. State, 992 P.2d 383, 395 (Okla.Crim.App.2000) . Nevertheless, it is categorized as first-degree murder. Fairchild v. State, 998 P.2d 611, 618 (Okla.Crim.App.1999); see also Okla. Stat. tit. 21, 843 (amend.1989, 1990), renumbered as Okla. Stat. tit. 10, 7115 effective Nov. 1, 1995 (amend.1995, 1996, 1998, and 1999) (Supp.2003) ( " '[C]hild abuse' means the willful or malicious abuse ... of a child under eighteen (18) years of age by another, or the act of willfully or maliciously injuring, torturing or maiming a child under eighteen (18) years of age by another."); Okla. Stat. tit. 21, 701.7(C) (amend.1989, 1997) ("It is sufficient for the crime of murder in the first degree that the person either willfully tortured or used unreasonable force upon the child or maliciously injured or maimed the child.").

* * * *

For the reasons stated above, we AFFIRM the district court's denial of a writ of habeas corpus. Additionally, we DENY Workman's request that we hold this appeal in abeyance and that we remand for an evidentiary hearing.