Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
UTAH STATE PRISON — Two prison inmates have been charged in unrelated homicide cases this week, stemming from two deaths at the prison in September and February.
Samuel Jacob Wise, 26, was charged in 3rd District Court with homicide by assault, a third-degree felony, for allegedly beating fellow inmate Christopher Lucas to death inside his cell in September.
Wise and Lucas were housed in adjacent cells at the prison. The men got into an argument about Lucas being too loud in the early morning, charging documents state.
When their cells opened on the evening of Sept. 13, Wise allegedly rushed into Lucas' adjacent cell and began fighting Lucas.
Wise sat on Lucas and punched him as the prison was put on alert and locked down, police say. Four officers arrived and deployed pepper spray on Wise during the attack but the spray was unsuccessful in deterring Wise until the last attempt, the charges state.
Lucas was asking for help and not fighting back, according to investigators. At one point he said repeatedly, "I give up," the charges state.
The incident lasted about 10 minutes. Lucas was taken from his cell and later died from his injuries despite emergency medical attention.
Wise allegedly told police he heard Lucas saying he couldn't breathe during the altercation. "Wise stated that when he got the advantage over Mr. Lucas he was not going to back up," according to charging documents.
Wise stated that when he got the advantage over Mr. Lucas he was not going to back up.
–charging documents
The state medical examiner's office determined pepper spray exposure was a factor contributing to Lucas' death. The other listed factor was "physical altercation," court documents state.
Wise is also charged with assault by a prisoner, a third-degree felony.
In a separate incident at the state prison in February, Mario Alfonso Lucero, 34, is accused of fatally beating another inmate.
Lucero, of St. George, is charged with murder, a first-degree felony, accused of strangling Julio Guerrero inside a cell they shared. Investigators said both men were accounted for and the cell was locked the last time Guererro was seen in good condition.
On the afternoon of Feb. 9, an inmate who was away from his cell for recreation time alerted prison officers to an issue in the cell. Guerrero was treated at the scene but pronounced dead about 30 minutes after he was found.
Lucero suffered only superficial injuries.
An autopsy revealed Guerrero's cause of death to be asphyxiation, the charges state. Guerrero suffered severe injuries to multiple parts of his neck.
"These injuries … would have required a consistently applied force to the victim's neck for several minutes," charging documents state.
No initial court date has been set for either Wise or Lucero.
