By Sara Burnett
The Denver Post
DENVER -- Federal prosecutors will seek the death penalty against two inmates accused of killing fellow prisoners in separate incidents at the federal prison complex in Florence, according to notices filed in U.S. District Court.
The cases - which include the first murder at the prison known as “Supermax” - mark the first time since 2001 that the U.S. attorney’s office in Denver has filed notice to pursue the death penalty.
Richard Santiago, 51, is accused of beating a man to death in the yard of the Administrative Maximum U.S. Penitentiary, or Supermax, in 2005.
According to court records, Santiago and another inmate, Silvestre Mayorqui Rivera, kicked, punched and stomped on fellow inmate Manuel Torrez until he lay unresponsive.
Video surveillance cameras show the attack lasted several minutes before Santiago and Rivera walked away from Torrez, who appeared unconscious. A short time later, Santiago returned and kicked Torrez several times in the head and torso, according to an affidavit filed by the FBI agent who investigated the case.
Gary Douglas Watland, 48, is accused of stabbing fellow inmate Mark James Baker in the neck and head with a homemade metal “shank” while Baker played cards in a common area of the U.S. Penitentiary in 2008.
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