Jury selection has begun for the first of two federal prison inmates accused of killing their cellmate and using his internal organs to taunt guards and warn other inmates against talking to investigators.
William Sablan, 42, is charged with first-degree murder in the Oct. 10, 1999, death of Joey Jesus Estrella, 33, in their cell at the federal penitentiary in Florence.
His cousin and cellmate, Rudy Sablan, also faces a first-degree murder charge. His trial date was not immediately available.
The Sablans are the first federal defendants in Colorado to face capital punishment since Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh in 1997.
The Sablans and Estrella were smoking, playing cards and drinking homemade wine before a fight broke out the night of the killing, other inmates have testified.
An autopsy showed Estrella bled to death from being slashed in the neck, and that some of his organs were removed after he died.
Authorities have said they believe he was cut with a prison-issue razor blade which was then flushed down a toilet.
William Sablan, a native of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands, has a criminal history dating to 1984 that includes convictions for holding a couple at knifepoint, attacking two men on a golf course and attempting to strangle a shop owner with a telephone cord. While in prison for the golf-course attack, he and other inmates “took over” the prison, holding a group of Chinese inmates hostage, according to court filings.
Sablan’s attorneys have said in court filings they will pursue an insanity defense.
Jury selection is expected to take up to two weeks before U.S. District Judge Wiley Daniel. The trial is scheduled to last four months.
