Winfield ? When Maudie Nichols and her half sister, Sue Norton, talk on the phone each week, there’s one name they know it’s best not to mention — Robert Wesley Knighton.

For Norton, who lives in Arkansas City, it’s the name of a friend who is about to die. For Nichols, who runs a small diner and lives in Oxford, it’s the name of a cold-blooded killer who’s about to get what’s coming to him.

“We’ve agreed to disagree,” Norton said.

Knighton, 62, was convicted in an Oklahoma courtroom of two counts of capital murder for the Jan. 8, 1990, shooting deaths of Richard and Virginia Denney.

He’s scheduled to be executed May 27 but will get one last chance to avoid being put to death at a May 20 clemency hearing.

Richard Denney was Nichols’ biological father and adopted Norton when she was just 2 or 3 years old. Virginia was the girls’ stepmother.

In January 1990, Knighton left a Kansas City, Mo., halfway house and embarked on a four-day crime spree, according to court records. Accompanying Knighton was his 20-year-old girlfriend, Rene Williams, and his 17-year-old friend, Lawrence Brittain.

Knighton is suspected of killing two Clinton, Mo., men before arriving at the Denneys’ isolated rural Oklahoma home near Tonkawa.

According to court testimony, Knighton shot the couple to death and took $61 and the couple’s truck. Texas police arrested the trio the next day, still driving the Denneys’ truck.

Both Williams and Brittain testified against Knighton at his trial and pinned both shootings on him.

During Knighton’s trial, Norton decided to visit him in a holding cell and told him that she had forgiven him.

Norton, 55, doesn’t deny that Knighton, whom she calls B.K., has done some bad things, but she thinks he has been a victim, too. Before he killed the Denneys, Knight had spent 31 of his 48 years in prison for various crimes.

He had become used to living in an institution, Norton said, and couldn’t cope with his new freedom.

Nichols, 48, agrees her parents’ killer lived a rough life but doesn’t see that as an excuse.

“I have compassion for the man; he’s been through hell,” she said. “But I also think if ever he got out, he’d kill more people. He’s a killer.”

In the years since Knighton was sentenced to die by lethal injection, Norton has befriended the convict and even fought to have his sentence changed to life without the possibility of parole.

Norton thinks it’s wrong for people to forgive some sins but not others.

“Two people are already dead,” she said “Killing another person is not going to bring my folks back.”

Norton plans to attend the execution and sit on Knighton’s side, across the aisle from Nichols, who will be on the victims’ family’s side.

Nichols is not happy with her sister’s decision to fight for Knighton.

“Sue has the right to believe anything she wants to,” Nichols said. “But I want people to know that there are people in this family that think (Knighton) is right where he belongs.”

Norton has been a vocal crusader against the death penalty. She recently appeared on “The John Walsh Show,” where she told of her friendship with Knighton and shared her plans to pay for his funeral when he’s executed.

Knighton thanked Norton for her compassion via satellite from his cell in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. He credited her with helping him build his faith in God.

Norton has traveled around the country telling her story. A book about her relationship with Knighton is in the works.

On the home front, “I’ve never regretted my decision,” Norton said. “It has caused a lot of heartache, though.”

It is especially difficult for Nichols, who thinks Norton is enjoying the spotlight just a little too much.

Norton knows her stance has “estranged me from my family” but said support from her husband and two children helped her stay strong.

Knighton is just a taboo topic for the sisters these days.

“I’d like to call them (Nichols and her mother) and warn them I’m going to be on television,” Norton said. “But they just get mad, so I don’t.” Through it all, though, the sisters have stayed in contact.

“This has not affected the love we have for each other,” Norton said. “She’s my sister.”