juliwaits
10-19-2003, 07:32 PM
Cummins inmate dies after cell assault (article as printed in the Arkansas Democrat Gazetter on Sunday, October 19, 2003)
VARNER - A 62-year old inmate at the Cummins Unit of the state prison system died after his throat was slashed early Saturday as he lay in his bunk in a two-man cell, a prison spokesman said.
Willie E. Campbell was still alive when guards discovered that he had been assaulted, spokesman Dina Tyler said. The discovery was made as the guards mad eroutine cell checks about 1:25am she said.
"His throat had been cut with something very sharp," Tyler said.
While guards tried to stop the bleeding, emergency medial personnel were called, and Campbell was taken by ambulance to a Dumas hospital, where he was pronounced deat shortly after his arrival, Tyler said.
Campbell was serving a 15-year sentence from Jefferson County for terroristic threatening and being a felon in possession of a firearm. That sentence was lengthened by 18 months in 2000 after he was convicted of possessing a gun in tprison, according to prison records.
The suspect in the slaying, Tyler said, is Campbell's cellmate, John H. Luckett, 21. Luckett is serving a 40-year sentence for a first-degree murder conviction in Phillips County and 20 years for aggravated robbery, according to prison records.
"When first questioned by officers, the cellmate told us that the victim had committed suicide, which seemed highly implausible ," Tyler said. "Upon further questioning by us, the suspet indicated that he did cut [Campbell's] throat, bud did it in self defense... he said Campbell had been threatening him."
Tyler siad no threats had been reported to prison authoirities, and Luckett showed no signs he had been involved in a struggle.
NO WEAPON WAS FOUND in the cell, Tyler seaid, but it has been sealed off pending a search by state police, who will investigate the slaying.
VARNER - A 62-year old inmate at the Cummins Unit of the state prison system died after his throat was slashed early Saturday as he lay in his bunk in a two-man cell, a prison spokesman said.
Willie E. Campbell was still alive when guards discovered that he had been assaulted, spokesman Dina Tyler said. The discovery was made as the guards mad eroutine cell checks about 1:25am she said.
"His throat had been cut with something very sharp," Tyler said.
While guards tried to stop the bleeding, emergency medial personnel were called, and Campbell was taken by ambulance to a Dumas hospital, where he was pronounced deat shortly after his arrival, Tyler said.
Campbell was serving a 15-year sentence from Jefferson County for terroristic threatening and being a felon in possession of a firearm. That sentence was lengthened by 18 months in 2000 after he was convicted of possessing a gun in tprison, according to prison records.
The suspect in the slaying, Tyler said, is Campbell's cellmate, John H. Luckett, 21. Luckett is serving a 40-year sentence for a first-degree murder conviction in Phillips County and 20 years for aggravated robbery, according to prison records.
"When first questioned by officers, the cellmate told us that the victim had committed suicide, which seemed highly implausible ," Tyler said. "Upon further questioning by us, the suspet indicated that he did cut [Campbell's] throat, bud did it in self defense... he said Campbell had been threatening him."
Tyler siad no threats had been reported to prison authoirities, and Luckett showed no signs he had been involved in a struggle.
NO WEAPON WAS FOUND in the cell, Tyler seaid, but it has been sealed off pending a search by state police, who will investigate the slaying.