Execution date set for convicted killer

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ A state appellate court set a February 24th execution date Monday for an Oklahoma death row inmate convicted of killing his cellmate. <br/><br/>The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals

Monday, January 24th 2005, 9:36 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ A state appellate court set a February 24th execution date Monday for an Oklahoma death row inmate convicted of killing his cellmate.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals set the execution date for 52-year-old John David Duty. Duty was convicted of the December 2001 murder of 22-year-old Curtis Wise.

Wise was Duty's cellmate at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. Duty persuaded Wise to be tied up to convince guards that Duty had taken Wise hostage. Once Duty had Wise tied up, he strangled him with shoelaces.

At the time Duty was serving concurrent life sentences handed down in 1978 for rape and shooting with intent to kill in Tillman County. He was also serving a life sentence for robbery in Jackson County in 1978.