Wilson execution set for Tulsa co-worker death

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) – A Tulsa man convicted of masterminding the killing of a co-worker at a convenience store is scheduled to be executed.

Michael Lee Wilson is set for execution Thursday evening at the state penitentiary in McAlester. Wilson worked with the victim, Richard Yost, and was one of four men convicted in Yost’s February 1995 death.

Two of Wilson’s co-defendants have been executed and another was sentenced to life.

In an attack partially captured on videotape, Yost was struck with an aluminum baseball bat 54 times minutes after Wilson had asked the victim what kind of future he thought he had with the convenience store chain. Yost said he hoped to manage a store someday.

Yost’s widow told the state pardon board last month how the killing impacted her two young sons.