Post by CCADP on Aug 11, 2005 22:34:42 GMT -5
Prosecutor to seek death penalty in inmate stabbing
Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against an inmate charged with
murder in the stabbing of a fellow prisoner last month.
Kenneth Henry Justus, 38, was serving 2 consecutive life sentences for
killing Upstate store clerks during robberies nearly a decade ago when
investigators said he entered 22-year-old Justis Matthew Bergenzer's cell
at the Lieber Correctional Institution in Ridgeland and stabbed him about
13 times in the head and chest with a homemade knife.
Prosecutor David Pascoe said those previous killings are why he plans to
serve a notice to seek the death penalty on Thursday morning at the
Dorchester County courthouse.
No other inmate currently on South Carolina's death row was sentenced to
die for killing an inmate. One of South Carolina's most notorious
prisoners, serial killer Donald "Pee Wee" Gaskins, was put to death in
1991 for a killing inside the prison walls. Gaskins also admitted to
killing 13 other people.
Corrections Department director Jon Ozmint said he wants Justus to be
sentenced to death as a deterrent to other inmates serving life sentences.
"Otherwise, a guy doing life might think he could get a killing for free,
so to speak," said Ozmint, who plans on being in the courthouse Thursday
when the death penalty notice is issued.
Justus' lawyer, Marva Hardee-Thomas, did not immediately return a phone
call Tuesday seeking comment.
Justus and Bergenzer, who was a month away from completing a one-year
sentence for grand larceny and escape, were both in the same wing of the
maximum security prison when the stabbing took place.
A guard locking the wing down for the night on July 26 noticed a group of
inmates around Bergenzer's cell and found the prisoner lying on the floor.
Paramedics could not revive him, prison officials said.
Other prisoners saw Justus leaving Bergenzer's cell with blood on his
clothes and said he tried to flush the knife down the toilet in his own
cell, according to a sworn statement from a State Law Enforcement Division
agent.
Justus had been disciplined several times by prison officials for having
drugs, but Ozmint could not recall any infractions for assaulting other
inmates.
Bergenzer was being held in maximum security because of a previous escape
attempt, Ozmint said.
(source: Associated Press)
Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against an inmate charged with
murder in the stabbing of a fellow prisoner last month.
Kenneth Henry Justus, 38, was serving 2 consecutive life sentences for
killing Upstate store clerks during robberies nearly a decade ago when
investigators said he entered 22-year-old Justis Matthew Bergenzer's cell
at the Lieber Correctional Institution in Ridgeland and stabbed him about
13 times in the head and chest with a homemade knife.
Prosecutor David Pascoe said those previous killings are why he plans to
serve a notice to seek the death penalty on Thursday morning at the
Dorchester County courthouse.
No other inmate currently on South Carolina's death row was sentenced to
die for killing an inmate. One of South Carolina's most notorious
prisoners, serial killer Donald "Pee Wee" Gaskins, was put to death in
1991 for a killing inside the prison walls. Gaskins also admitted to
killing 13 other people.
Corrections Department director Jon Ozmint said he wants Justus to be
sentenced to death as a deterrent to other inmates serving life sentences.
"Otherwise, a guy doing life might think he could get a killing for free,
so to speak," said Ozmint, who plans on being in the courthouse Thursday
when the death penalty notice is issued.
Justus' lawyer, Marva Hardee-Thomas, did not immediately return a phone
call Tuesday seeking comment.
Justus and Bergenzer, who was a month away from completing a one-year
sentence for grand larceny and escape, were both in the same wing of the
maximum security prison when the stabbing took place.
A guard locking the wing down for the night on July 26 noticed a group of
inmates around Bergenzer's cell and found the prisoner lying on the floor.
Paramedics could not revive him, prison officials said.
Other prisoners saw Justus leaving Bergenzer's cell with blood on his
clothes and said he tried to flush the knife down the toilet in his own
cell, according to a sworn statement from a State Law Enforcement Division
agent.
Justus had been disciplined several times by prison officials for having
drugs, but Ozmint could not recall any infractions for assaulting other
inmates.
Bergenzer was being held in maximum security because of a previous escape
attempt, Ozmint said.
(source: Associated Press)