By Jeff Proctor
The Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Three Bernalillo County jail inmates were charged Monday with a slew of felonies, including attempted murder in connection with the alleged drug related beating of a fellow inmate last month, authorities said.
Kenneth Vincent Traiger was still in the Metropolitan Detention Center infirmary late Monday, according to jail records.
The three charged in connection with the Sept. 19 beating, according to Bernalillo County Sheriff’s spokesman Larry Koren, are Donte Mitchell, 20, Marvin Cole, 19, and Cornell Douglas, 29.
They are charged with attempted murder, criminal sexual penetration, kidnapping and conspiracy.
Traiger, who was booked into the jail Sept. 17 on armed robbery and kidnapping charges, had smuggled a quantity of heroin and marijuana into the jail and was selling the heroin with Cole, according to an arrest warrant.
A rumor began within the jail that Traiger was a police informant, the warrant states. Traiger became scared and stopped selling the heroin.
On Sept. 19, Cole and Douglas entered Traiger’s cell while Mitchell stood as lookout, the warrant states. The two men are accused of “boot-stomping” Traiger on the head five or six times, and one of them punched him in the head while he was on the ground.
Traiger was taken to University of New Mexico Hospital, where he was placed into a medically induced coma for a short time and treated for his injuries, the warrant states.
At the time of the incident, Cole and Mitchell were in jail at the MDC on felony charges stemming from separate incidents including armed robbery, child abuse, false imprisonment, conspiracy and aggravated assault.
Douglas was released from jail on Sept. 30, jail records show.
A warrant has been issued for his arrest in connection with the alleged beating.
Copyright 2010 Albuquerque Journal