The bodies were discovered some time later and Howard told police what had happened. He was initially charged with being an accomplice to murder but that was later reduced to a 5 year suspended sentence after he agreed to testify against Sellers.

At his trial, Sellers admitted he was into Satanism and that he had been demonically possessed when the murder happened. He also claimed to have read Anton LaVey's "The Satanic Bible." "I got very involved in Satanism. I truly thought it was an honest way to live, and the rituals of it would enable me to control my life." His attorneys also argued that he was addicted to the game Dungeons & Dragons, although Sellers would later write that the game had no part in his crimes and that "using my past as a common example of the effects of the game is either irrational or fanatical."

The jury did not accept his explanation and he was found guilty and the death penalty recommended. Oklahoma law in 1986 did not permit life without parole for capital murder, juries could only select the death penalty or life with the possibility of parole in as little as 15 years (this was changed only a year later). One juror said they voted for the death penalty because they could never be sure that Sellers wouldn't get out on parole and kill again, but the rest of the jury denied this. He also confessed to the murder of Robert Bower, heretofore unsolved.