Muskogee County prosecutors told a judge Monday they will decide within two weeks whether to file first-degree murder charges against Jerry Dewitt Raney.

First Assistant District Attorney Jeff Sheridan asked District Judge Tom Alford to deny bond for Raney, 44, until that decision is made.

Raney is the lone suspect in the death of his stepdaughter, Sara Kendall Smart, 19, prosecutors said.

Smart, reported missing in late January 2006, was found dead Aug. 5, 2006. Her skeletal remains were inside a 55-gallon barrel that had drifted onto the banks of a farm pond about five miles west of Haskell. The body was identified by dental records.

Prosecutors have been studying an investigative report approximately 750 pages long that recommends first-degree murder charges be filed against Raney.

Muskogee County Sheriff Investigator Faye Banks testified Monday that Smart died of strangulation.

According to police reports, Sara and her 21-month-old son had been living with her mother, Laura Raney, and her stepfather, Jerry Raney, in Haskell.

According to police reports, Smart caught a ride to Muskogee with Jerry Raney on Jan. 30, 2006. He said he dropped Smart off near the McDonald’s restaurant at U.S. 69 and Okmulgee Avenue, where she was last seen about 8:30 to 9 a.m.

Muskogee County District Attorney Larry Moore said Raney was charged Monday with possession of a firearm after former conviction of a felony.

Raney testified in an unrelated trial on July 11 that he bought a rifle for his brother-in-law and brought it home from a Tulsa gun show. He also is being charged with threatening to do harm to a jailer, Moore said.

A Muskogee County jury found Raney not guilty on July 11 of three felony charges that included two charges of domestic assault and battery by strangulation and one count of intimidation of a witness. Jurors found Raney guilty of a misdemeanor charge of assault and battery in the presence of a minor. The panel deliberated 15 minutes before recommending Raney be released for time he had served in jail awaiting trial.

Raney was sent back to jail on July 11, but not to his old cell, said Donn Baker, Raney’s attorney. He contends Raney was placed in a cell containing feces and urine and did not receive food or water for 12 hours.

Muskogee County Sheriff Charles Pearson said Raney was isolated and filmed and not given water except when he was fed because he was so angry about going back to jail that he was a danger to jailers. He said after Raney was returned to a regular cell it took an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper and about seven other jail employees to safely move him.

Raney still faces a November 2007 charge of planning or scheming to kill a number of people, including several law enforcement officers.

He also awaits trial on allegedly filing a claim on a car reported stolen that had been sold after the vehicle identification number had been switched.