public static Date stringToDate(String str) {  
	        DateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd");  
	        Date date = null;  
	        try {  
	            // Fri Feb 24 00:00:00 CST 2012  
	            date = format.parse(str);   
	        } catch (ParseException e) {  
	            e.printStackTrace();  
	        }  
	        // 2012-02-24  
	        date = java.sql.Date.valueOf(str);  
	                                              
	        return date;  
	    }  

Date startDate=stringToDate(startTime);