Two charged with murder after attacking another inmate at SC prison, officials say
Two inmates were charged with the murder of another prisoner at a South Carolina correctional institution, the Department of Corrections said Monday.
Jonathan Sentel Dominick, 35, and Darius Rasean Ransom, 31, were both charged for their roles in the death of Deshawn Livaughn Simmons, another inmate at McCormick Correctional Institution, South Carolina Department of Corrections spokeswoman Chrysti Shain said in a news release.
The Department of Corrections Police Services said Ransom punched Simmons during the Nov. 3 attack, as Dominick stabbed Simmons in the back with a homemade weapon, according to the release.
Simmons, 28, died that same day at an area hospital after he was found in his cell with a single stab wound to his back, Shain said.
In addition to murder, Dominick also was charged with possessing a weapon during a violent crime and carrying a concealed weapon by a prisoner, according to the release.
He is already serving a 25-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter, third-degree burglary and grand larceny, Shain said.
Ransom is serving a 30-year sentence for first-degree burglary, in addition to assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, according to the release.
The cases will be prosecuted by the 11th Circuit Solicitor’s office.
Information on what led to the attack was not included in the news release.
McCormick Correctional is a men’s-only, high-security institution that houses 869 inmates, according to the Department of Corrections. Like other Level 3 prisons in South Carolina, McCormick is “designed primarily to house violent offenders with longer sentences, and inmates who exhibit behavioral problems,” the Department of Corrections said.
It’s about 80 miles west of Columbia.
Simmons’ death was the first of two homicides the Department of Corrections has reported in 2020.
Later in November, 28-year-old Travis Antwan Lee was taken to a hospital where he died following an attack at Lee Correctional Institution. That’s the the same prison where seven inmates were killed and 22 others were injured during fights that lasted more than seven hours in 2018.
On Dec. 3, indictments were issued to 29 inmates at Lee Correctional for their roles in that riot.
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This story was originally published December 7, 2020 at 1:10 PM with the headline "Two charged with murder after attacking another inmate at SC prison, officials say."
