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GUNNISON — An inmate at the Central Utah Correctional Facility who prosecutors say is a habitual violent offender is now accused of killing another inmate.
Steven Dennis Skinner, 39, was charged Monday in Sanpete County's 6th District Court with aggravated murder, a first-degree felony.
On June 27, Dale Lee Rush, 66, was found unresponsive in his cell and pronounced dead a short time later. Department of Corrections officials at the time stated that his death was being treated as a possible homicide, but no other details about the incident were given.
Monday, the Sanpete County Attorney's Office confirmed Skinner was being charged in connection with Rush's death but declined to give any updated information about the incident pending Skinner's appearance in court, including how Rush was killed.
Skinner was convicted of four counts of aggravated sexual assault and theft by receiving stolen property in 2018 and was sentenced to 15 years to life in the Utah State Prison.
Rush had been incarcerated since 2001 for convictions of sodomy on a child, rape of a child and sexual abuse of a child and was serving up to life in prison, according to court records.
