The Supreme Court of Georgia has affirmed the convictions of two men accused of stabbing a fellow inmate to death at Augusta State Medical Prison.
Michael Lorenzo Ward and Frederick Dewberry were two of six inmates indicted for the prison yard stabbing death of Antonio Wiley Aug. 28, 2011.
At trial, a witness testified Ward and Dewberry were Gangster Disciples carrying out the execution of Wiley, a Blood, over a $50 cell phone battery debt.
Wiley who was stabbed and cut at least 65 times, bled to death as inmates prevented staff from rendering medical care, according to testimony. Ward and Dewberry were sentenced to life without parole.
The Supreme Court ruled that heavy police presence in the courtroom and a witness who was shackled was not prejudicial to the defendants, and that evidence was sufficient to show they were among the primary aggressors in the stabbing.
Ward, 47, was a local man who died last year. Dewberry, born in 1983, was initially sentenced in Talbot County. He is currently incarcerated at Ware State Prison in Waycross.
Augusta State Medical Prison opened in 1983 on the Columbia-Richmond County line. Staffed by 500 Augusta University employees, it houses a 95-bed acute care hospital. Its approximately 1,326 adult male felon residents may or may not have medical issues. Despite the availability of lifesaving medical care, the facility is the frequent scene of violent inmate deaths.
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