SOUTH SALT LAKE — A Salt Lake man currently awaiting trial on a murder charge is facing a new charge accusing him of assaulting another inmate while at the Salt Lake County Jail.
Nhial Mawut Buk, 20, was charged last week in 3rd District Court with assault by a prisoner, a third-degree felony.
On Aug. 9, Buk was observed punching another inmate in the face, according to charging documents. That started a fight between the two inmates who "continued to fight until they were sprayed with OC spray."
Buk is currently being held in jail on charges of murder and 13 counts of discharge of a firearm causing serious injury, first-degree felonies; obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony; and failing to stop for law enforcement, a class A misdemeanor.
On May 26, Salt Lake police were called to 1810 W. Fortune Road in the Poplar Grove neighborhood to investigate a shooting "at a warehouse after party." They arrived to find Nico Christopher Patino, 30, lying on the ground in the parking lot with multiple gunshot wounds.
Buk and two other men were charged in connection with the killing. An eight-day trial for Buk is scheduled to begin in his murder case in May.
Buk is the brother of Buk Mawut Buk, who was convicted of killing University of Utah football player Aaron Lowe in 2021. He is also the brother of Deng Mawut Buk, who is charged with murder along with two other men in the shooting death of a man outside a sneaker convention at the Salt Palace Convention Center in 2022. Deng Buk's trial is scheduled to begin in April.
