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UTAH STATE PRISON -- A Utah State prison inmate is dead, and his cellmate is now facing potential murder charges following a fight at the prison Sunday.
Salt Lake County sheriff's Lt. Don Hutson said 47-year-old Mark Helms was found unresponsive in his cell in the prison's D-block late Sunday morning. Prison officials tried, unsuccessfully, to resuscitate Helms. It appeared his cellmate, Athian Kuot Mawien, used his bare hands to strangle and beat Helms to death. "There were some items that are commonly found in a cell that were also used, items that could possibly be used in a strangulation," Hutson said.
Hutson said Mawien didn't appear to be hurt and didn't offer any explanation that would justify or validate killing somebody else. He says it appears to have been an argument that escalated to a fight. Guards were called to the cell to reports of a disturbance.
Helms was convicted in 2000 on two counts of attempted aggravated sexual abuse of a child and dealing in harmful material to a minor.
Mawien was convicted in 2004 of attempted aggravated sexual assault and forcible sex abuse.
Both men were facing long prison sentences.
Mawien has been arrested and moved to the Salt Lake County Jail, where he was booked on a homicide charge.
E-mail: mgiauque@ksl.com
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