Appeal denied for former Tahlequah doctor, convicted killer

A former Tahlequah doctor's petition for an appeal was denied by the Arkansas Court of Appeals Friday, July 12.

Tyler Tait was convicted last year of second-degree murder for the death of local nurse, Moria Kinsey.

On Oct. 11, 2021, Kinsey was found unresponsive on the ground next to Tait’s vehicle on U.S. Highway 65. According to reports, Tait claimed Kinsey may have been suffering from a seizure. She was transported to a hospital where she was pronounced dead. Investigators noticed bruising around Kinsey’s neck.

Special agents examined the vehicle in which Tait and Kinsey had been traveling from Mississippi to Tahlequah, and found evidence of a physical altercation inside.

According to court documents, the medical examiner asserts strangulation, and statements made by the prosecuting attorney to Tait’s attorneys alleged Kinsey’s cause of death was a “karate chop.”

According to the petition, Tait's attorneys stated he asserts that Kinsey died of natural causes and challenged the medical examiner's contrary testimony. Tait filed a motion for a new trial last year, which was denied.

Tait must serve 25 percent of his 30-year sentence before he is eligible for parole.