Okla. man sentenced for hate crime slaying of Lebanese neighbor

TULSA, Okla.  – A 63-year-old Oklahoma man convicted of murder and a hate crime in the fatal shooting of his Lebanese neighbor was sentenced Tuesday morning to life in prison without the possibility of parole. A judge upheld all jury recommendations, plus 11 years and 6 months and $22,000 in fines, CBS affiliate KOTV reports.

Stanley Vernon Majors was convicted earlier this month of gunning down 37-year-old Khalid Jabara outside of his Tulsa home in August 2016. The murder charge carried a life sentence, and the jury recommended that Majors never get the chance to go free – a recommendation the judge followed Tuesday.

According to prosecutors, Majors killed Jabara after bombarding him with racial insults in a feud with Jabara’s family that lasted several years. It escalated to the point where the victim’s mother, Haifa Jabara, obtained a protective order in 2013 that required Majors to stay 300 yards away and prohibited him from possessing any firearms until 2018. 

CBS affiliate KOTV

But prosecutors said Majors was undeterred, and that he struck Haifa Jabara with his car in 2015 and drove off. She suffered a broken shoulder, among other injuries. Officers who stopped him later reported that he was intoxicated.

While awaiting trial in that case on assault and battery charges, a judge freed Majors from jail on $60,000 bond, overruling strong objections by prosecutors, who called him a substantial risk to the public and pleaded with the court to set a higher bond of $300,000.

Authorities said Majors shot Khalid Jabara on his own front porch while out on bond.

Defense attorneys argued that Majors showed signs of dementia and appeared to have problems with his long-term memory, and that these conditions interfered with their ability to prepare a defense.

In addition to his convictions in Oklahoma, Majors has a 2009 felony conviction in California for threatening a crime with intent to terrorize.