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| Three indicted for prison murders |
| By Charlotte Sun Herald |
| Published: 12/04/2003 |
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A Charlotte County, Fla. grand jury met Wednesday and indicted three state prisoners who are accused of killing Charlotte Correctional Institution Officer Darla Lathrem and another inmate during a failed escape attempt in June. Former CCI inmates Dwight T. Eaglin, Stephen Smith and Michael Jones each face two first-degree premeditated murder charges for the deaths of Lathrem and inmate Charles Fuston. If convicted, all three could be finding new homes on death row. On June 11, as Lathrem supervised five inmates on a construction detail inside the facility around 10:15 p.m., something went terribly wrong. Inmates killed Lathrem, 38, and fatally wounded Fuston, 36 -- who died two days later at Lee Memorial Hospital -- while trying to escape from the prison. Eaglin, Smith and Jones attacked Lathrem with a sledgehammer, causing blunt force trauma to her head, according to prosecutors. Lathrem was the first female corrections officer to be killed in the line of duty in state history. Eaglin, Smith and Jones -- who were taken to one of two death row prisons for men in Stark, Fla. after the attacks -- never made it beyond the prison walls the night Lathrem died, though Eaglin climbed over one wall on the prison grounds. Members of the grand jury listened to testimony from three CCI officers Wednesday morning. Circuit Judge William Blackwell accepted the indictments presented by State Attorney Steve Russell and jury forewoman Lynn Graham. Eaglin, Smith and Jones and the charges were each charged with two counts of first-degree premeditated murder. The men could be sent to death row due to the severity of the crimes. Murder charges aren't new to Eaglin. The 27-year-old is serving a life sentence for fatally stabbing a man in 1998 outside a Pinellas County topless bar. Eaglin has been incarcerated at CCI since January 23, 2001. Smith, 42, has been in the prison system for more than a decade. He's also a convicted killer. Jones, 47, is the only one of the three who hasn't been convicted of murder. He's doing a life of hard time for charges of burglary with assault and sexual battery in 1986. Another former CCI inmate may have been involved in the escape attempt or murders at the prison. It is possible he may face charges as well, though the grand jury handed down the primary charges Wednesday to Eaglin, Smith and Jones, Russell said. Prosecutors Russell and Feinberg plan to "vigorously prosecute the cases," Russell said. |
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