AG's office convicts two inmates for prison guard assaults
Attorney General Marty Jackley announces guilty decisions late Friday evening
Two inmates at the South Dakota Penitentiary have been found guilty of assaulting two correctional officers in a 2023 attack, which included one officer being struck dozens of times.
Inmates Lester M. Monroe, 49, and Kyle Jones, 31, were convicted Friday of attempted first degree murder of a law enforcement officer and aggravated assault of a department of corrections employee following a week-long trial in the Minnehaha County Circuit Court. Jones also was found guilty of an additional of one additional count of simple assault of a department of corrections employee.
The Aug. 24, 2023, assault took place in Unit D of the Jameson Annex in Sioux Falls. Both officers were treated for injuries and later from the hospital released, the Attorney General’s Office said in a press release.
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The State Division of Criminal Investigation and the Department of Corrections Special Investigations Unit investigated the incident, with the Attorney General’s Office leading the prosecution.
“This was a violent assault on two of our correctional officers, including one officer who was struck more than 70 times, doing their job,” Attorney General Marty Jackley said in a statement. “Violence in the prison will not be tolerated, and offenders will be held accountable.”
Monroe and Jones face maximum sentences of 100 years in prison due to enhanced penalties, because they were inmates at the time of the assault. Sentencing hearings have not yet been scheduled for the two.
Monroe is currently serving time for simple assault on law enforcement from Minnehaha County and receiving or transferring a stolen vehicle from Bennett County. Jones is serving sentences for first degree manslaughter, eluding a police officer, and unauthorized ingestion of a controlled substance, all from Minnehaha County.
The state’s department of corrections has kept the state’s top prosecutor busy throughout 2024. The Attorney General’s office is currently dealing with a handful of separate felony charges for uprisings that took place at the state penitentiary earlier this year, a different set of riots from the facility in Springfield, South Dakota, too, could spurn more charges. 6 people, including two former department of corrections employees and four inmates, were indicted earlier this year on charges related to weapon possession and conspiracy.
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