Execution Set for Tomorrow

The white walls of the state prison at McAlester.

Credit DOC

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma death row inmate convicted of the stabbing deaths of a Le Flore County couple almost 13 years ago is scheduled to be executed at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

The execution is scheduled Tuesday for 36-year-old James DeRosa, who was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to die for the October 2000 deaths of 73-year-old Curtis Plummer and 70-year-old Gloria Plummer of Poteau.

Prosecutors say DeRosa had worked at the Plummers' ranch. They alleged that DeRosa and 33-year-old John Eric Castleberry slashed the Plummers' throats and left the scene with $73 and the couple's pickup truck, which was abandoned at a nearby lake.

Castleberry pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and testified against DeRosa in exchange for a life sentence without parole.