According to the police officials, the 52-year-old man from Texas was ‘arrested for shooting a man in the chest with a shotgun in his living room’. But now, he is charged with murder after he used a bandana to strangle his cellmate because he believed he was going to sexually assault him. The 52-year-old suspect was charged with murdering his 66-year-old cellmate on Saturday, Aug. 21, the day after he was initially taken into custody.
Authorities say that deputies performed a regular wellness check and discovered that his 66-year-old cellmate was lying face-down in the cell. When the deputies entered the cell, they found the victim unresponsive with a sock shoved in his mouth. They attempted to revive him but were unsuccessful. He was pronounced dead.
The 52-year-old suspect, Mark Anthony Wong, said that his cellmate appeared to be mentally ill and was shouting out obscenities and threatening to assault him.
He feared that his cellmate, Curtis Raymond Smith, was going to sexually assault him, he held him down on the ground and twisted tight a blue bandana that the man had been wearing around his neck.
The affidavit stated: “I asked Wong if his cellmate ever tried to rape him, touch him, or harm him and he said no”
He also told deputies that this 66-year-old cellmate did not make physical contact with him. He was charged with one count of first-degree murder and his bond was set at $1 million.
He is scheduled to make his first appearance before a judge on Sept. 22. As we already said, he was in the cell for allegedly shooting a man in the chest in his living room Friday evening, Aug. 20, leaving the victim in critical condition.
Cover Image – Curtis Raymond Smith | Suspect – Mark Anthony Wong
