A man convicted of committing the second murder in the history of the federal Supermax prison in southern Colorado has been sentenced to life in prison, after a statement in which he did not apologize for the killing.
Dominic Stewart, who would have been eligible for parole next year, will instead spend the rest of his life behind bars without the possibility of parole. A jury of beating and stomping to death fellow inmate Gregory Joiner.
In a statement at his sentencing hearing Friday, Stewart dismissed the attack as a mere fight and said another inmate who testified that Stewart had asked for help in assaulting Joiner was lying.
Stewart told U.S. District Court Judge Robert Blackburn that he was resigned to his sentence.
“Unfortunately, Joiner died,” Stewart said. “But once he died, my life was over too. Once he died, I killed myself.”
Stewart, 36, was already serving a life sentence in prison after being convicted of second-degree murder in Washington, D.C. However, that sentence came with parole eligibility.
At the sentencing hearing, Stewart’s attorney, Thomas Hammond, said Stewart had been working to be transferred out of Supermax and was eager to be closer to his family, whom he cares for greatly.
“It’s easy to paint Mr. Stewart as a violent, sadistic human being,” Hammond said. ” … But that would be an incorrect picture of Mr. Stewart.”
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Troyer said Stewart has not accepted responsibility for the murder.
Stewart is still incarcerated at the Supermax prison in Florence, . Inmates there are typically held in solitary confinement, but Stewart and Joiner were in a specialty “step-down” unit where inmates can prove they can behave well enough to be transferred to a less-secure prison.
The attack that took Joiner’s life happened one month after another attack in a step-down unit that was .
Earlier this year, fellow inmate James Duckett, 48, in connection with Joiner’s killing. Duckett initially had also been charged with murder in the attack. According to his plea agreement, Duckett — — at first held Joiner back while Stewart attacked him. Duckett was in prison.
John Ingold: 303-954-1068 or jingold@denverpost.com
