Mississippi inmate convicted in buttocks-injection killing dead at 58
JACKSON, Miss. -- A Mississippi inmate convicted in 2014 in the death of a Georgia woman through illicit silicone buttocks injections has died. The Mississippi Department of Corrections said in a statement Monday that an autopsy will be done on 58-year-old Tracy Lynn Garner, who died Sunday. She had served less than 3.5 years of a life sentence.
Garner was convicted by a jury of depraved heart murder in the death of Karima Gordon, an Atlanta area resident who died eight days after receiving the injections in Jackson in 2012. Depraved heart murder is a killing caused by reckless disregard for human life.
Prosecutors say Gordon was referred to Garner by Natasha Stewart, an adult entertainer. Stewart was convicted of manslaughter in Garner's death and received a seven-year sentence.
Garner was taken from Central Mississippi Correctional Facility to a hospital in Jackson, where she was pronounced dead Sunday morning. The Department of Corrections did not elaborate on the circumstances surrounding the inmate's death.
In 2014, the prosecution said Stewart told Gordon that Garner was a nurse, but Garner had no medical training and was not licensed to perform the procedure.
During the trial, defense lawyer John Colette suggested that Gordon wanted exactly what Garner had to offer.
"She wanted this underground, bargain basement butt enhancement," Colette said.
He also stated that Gordon had other injections that could have caused her death, and argued that the silicone found in Gordon's body didn't match silicone seized from Garner's Jackson home.
"We don't know how much she'd gotten before she ever came to Mississippi," Colette said. "What silicone caused her death?"
Authorities initially identified Garner as a man, Morris Garner, after the arrest. Her attorney has said Garner was born male and had sex reassignment surgery.