Chico Enterprise-Record
ATWATER, Calif. — A federal prisoner is facing the possibility of the death penalty after he was indicted on a charge of murder for a 2003 killing at the U.S. Penitentiary at Atwater.
Samuel Stone was already serving a life sentence for two separate homicides that occurred in 1999 when his cellmate, Michael Anita, was found dead in the prison’s special housing unit.
A federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment Thursday charging Stone with first-degree murder and murder by a federal prisoner serving a life sentence.
It’s unclear why there was nearly a 9-year delay between the death of Anita and the charges. According to the Department of Justice, the case was extensively investigated by the FBI.
Legal documents filed in the case say that when Anita was killed on July 30, 2003 he died in an especially “cruel and depraved manner.” Authorities would not provide additional details.
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