By Kelton Brooks
The Hutchinson News
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — An inmate who allegedly stabbed a correction officer multiple times at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility, stated in a letter he intended to kill the man so he could be moved out of Kansas to solitary confinement in another state.
Reno County District Judge Joseph McCarville ordered Corey Jeffery, 43, to stand trial for attempted capital murder for the Sept. 17, 2014, attack on Correction Officer Timothy Russell in cell house C at HCF’s Central Unit.
The judge set arraignment for 9 a.m. Sept. 8.
Kansas Department of Correction Special Agent Troy Robinson testified that Jeffrey admitted in a letter that he intended to kill Russell to get out of Kansas into a solitary setting. The letter was intercepted at the prison’s mailing facility, Robinson added.
He also said Jeffrey, originally an inmate from Minnesota, wanted out of general population.
Russell testified he was stabbed between 13 to 22 times and he still suffers from his injuries and has yet to return to work. He was stabbed in the back and torso. A photo of the suspected weapon used in the stabbing is shaped like the state of Tennessee, with a sharp edge that still contained blood on its tip. The base of the weapon was wrapped in plastic.
When Russell was asked if the man who stabbed him is in the courtroom, he said pointed without hesitation and said, “He’s right there, he’s right there.”
Jeffrey, who has “BAD” tattooed on the back of his neck, was brought into the courtroom by five officers from the prison. The officers surrounded Jeffrey throughout the hearing. One officer never removed his left hand from his taser.
KDOC Special Agent Maurice Merritt said when he arrived to the stabbing, there was a trail of a “considerable amount of blood” leading to the weapon.
Russell told investigators that before the stabbing Jeffery, who was free to move in and out of his cell, stopped and addressed him about complaints with the toilet and plumbing in his cell. As Russell was calling in the maintenance request, Jeffrey walked up behind the officer and repeatedly stabbed him, Special Agent John Makcus testified.
Markus testified that Jeffrey told him that he “tabbed-a-deuce” before the alleged stabbing. He said that’s prison slang for consuming K2, synthetic marijuana.
Reno County Deputy District Attorney Tom Stanton argued during the hearing to add a charge of possessing contraband, but McCarville denied it because the charge was based off testimonial statements and not evidence of contraband.
Officer Andis Lawless testified he heard Russell screaming and said he pressed his alarm on his hip. Lawless saw Jeffery on top of Russell with a fistful of his uniform in his left hand, and striking down with his right fist. He ordered Jeffery to get off Russell, but Lawless said Jeffery geared up as if he was about to charge him.
Lawless then pepper sprayed Jeffrey above the right eyebrow. Jeffery flung the weapon and was apprehended, Lawless said.
According to Echo Press in Alexandria Minnesota, Jeffrey pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in December 2006 when he repeatedly stabbed 80-year-old Paul Boever. The stabbing occurred Sept. 21, 2005 in the victim’s Minnesota home.
Jeffery stated in court in 2006 that his recollection of the killing was limited because he was extremely high on methamphetamine, according to the newspaper.