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Inmate Faces Sentencing In Cellmate's Slaying

CUMBERLAND, Md. (AP) -- A state prison inmate faces sentencing for the first-degree murder of his cellmate at the maximum-security Western Correctional Institution near Cumberland.

Darren Witmer, 41, was convicted in May of strangling Jeffrey Kay, 48, in November 2009.

He faces the prospect of another life sentence at his sentencing Tuesday afternoon in Allegany County Circuit Court.

Witmer is serving time for two murders in Frederick in early 1994. He made headlines later that year when he briefly escaped from the Frederick County jail while awaiting trial on the murder charges.

Kay was serving 20 years on theft, burglary and related convictions in Montgomery County.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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