By Sean Murphy
Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY — Federal prosecutors announced Wednesday they will seek the death penalty for an inmate accused of strangling his cellmate at the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City.
U.S. Attorney Robert Troester for the Western District of Oklahoma filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty against 27-year-old Jasper Reed. A federal grand jury in Oklahoma City on Tuesday returned a three-count indictment charging Reed with first-degree murder, attempted murder and assault resulting in serious bodily injury.
The U.S. Bureau of Prisons’ federal transfer center, which houses about 1,400 male and female inmates, is a main hub for federal prisoners who are being transferred to prison facilities across the country.
Prosecutors allege Reed, who was serving time in federal prison for a firearms offense out of New Mexico, attacked and seriously injured his first cellmate, referred to in court documents as T.R., on April 27, 2024. A corrections officer saw Reed lying on top of the man with his hands around his neck and blood on both men before he and other officers were able to separate the two, according to an affidavit signed by a federal agent. The other inmate suffered multiple broken bones in his face and neck, but survived.
A little more than a week later, Reed was housed with another inmate, referred to as R.P., who was found dead inside his cell on May 8, 2024, the affidavit states. An autopsy determined the cause of death of that inmate to be homicide by manual strangulation.
Reed’s attorneys in the Federal Public Defender’s office declined to comment on the case.
Just hours after President Donald Trump returned to the White House, he signed a sweeping executive order on the death penalty that directs the U.S. attorney general to “take all necessary and lawful action” to ensure states have enough lethal injection drugs to carry out executions.
Trump’s order compels the Justice Department to not only seek the death penalty in appropriate federal cases but also to help preserve capital punishment in states that have struggled to maintain adequate supplies of lethal injection drugs.
Before Trump’s election, federal executions had been on hold since a moratorium was imposed by former Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2021. Only three defendants remained on federal death row after Democratic President Joe Biden converted 37 of their sentences to life in prison.