2 Northern California Prisoners Suspected Of Killing Cellmates
FOLSOM, Calif. (AP/CBS13) — Two men serving life sentences in prisons in Folsom and Susanville are suspected of killing their cellmates over the weekend, authorities said Monday.
Deandre A. Lewis, 37, was found unresponsive in his cell on Saturday morning at California State Prison, Sacramento in Folsom. He was pronounced dead a short time later, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement.
His cellmate, Shamar L. Thornton, 36, is considered a suspect in his death, the department said.
Details of Lewis's death weren't immediately released.
Lewis was sent to prison from Contra Costa County in 2018 and was serving life with the possibility of parole for rape, torture and other crimes, authorities said. He was sentenced to additional decades for pimping, human trafficking with the use of a gun, false imprisonment with violence and other crimes.
Thornton was admitted to prison from San Bernardino County in 2009 and was serving life in prison without chance of parole for first-degree murder.
Another inmate, Benjy S. Wade, 40, died at around 5 p.m. Saturday after he was found in his cell at High Desert State Prison in Susanville, authorities said.
Wade was admitted to prison last August from Colusa County to serve 13 years for robbery with the use of a gun.
John C. Connell, his cellmate, is suspected in his death, authorities said.
Connell, 55, was sentenced to prison in the late 1980s from Sacramento County for armed robbery and battery with serious injury. Under California's "three strikes law," Connell already is serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole for escaping a Sutter County jail, authorities said.