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Chris Lane shooter faces sentence in US

Lawyers for the Oklahoma teen convicted of the shooting murder of Australian Chris Lane are planning to lodge an appeal.

Chancey Luna is brought into court for his trail in Duncan
A US court is expected to sentence Chris Lane's shooter to life in jail with no chance of parole. (AAP)

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Source: AAP


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Chancey Luna was just 16 when he fired a .22 calibre revolver into the back of Australian baseball player Chris Lane in a random drive-by shooting in Oklahoma.

On Tuesday (Wednesday AEST) in a courthouse just five minutes' drive from where Lane spent his last moments of life gasping for breath face down in a ditch, Luna will hear his sentence.

District Court judge Ken Graham is expected to sentence Luna to life in jail with no chance of parole.

It was the sentence the jury of five women and seven men recommended in April after a swift three-and-a-half-day first-degree murder trial and just one hour of deliberations.

"I don't wish to be mean, but I don't care what he (Luna) thinks or how he feels," Lane's mother Donna said after the April 17 verdict.

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The sentencing likely won't end the case that made headlines around the world and led to US President Barack Obama offering his "and the first lady's thoughts and prayers" to Lane's family and friends.

Luna's mother, Jennifer, told AAP his son's lawyers are working on lodging an appeal.

The murder happened in August 2013 when Luna, who recently turned 18, was in the backseat of a two-door Ford Focus driven by his 17-year-old friend Michael Jones.

A third friend, James Edwards Jr, 15, was in the front passenger seat rolling a marijuana cigarette on his Apple laptop.

Lane, 22, in Duncan visiting his girlfriend Sarah Harper, was jogging along an affluent area of the rural city, the car approached, Luna randomly selected the Australian and shot him just below the left shoulder.

Luna's lawyer Jim Berry asked the jury to sentence the teen to life with the possibility of parole, so he would be eligible for release in 38 years.

Lane grew up playing for the Essendon Baseball Club and had a scholarship at Oklahoma's East Central University.


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