Convicted Killer Indicted in Fellow Inmate's Death
UPDATED: July 2, 2012 5:30pm
by Julie Montanaro
Prosecutors are revealing more information about a deadly stabbing aboard a prison transport bus in September.
Assistant State Attorney Georgia Cappelman says Elijah Brookins stabbed Eric Sexton more than 20 times with a handmade knife. Cappelman says the shank was recovered on the side of Interstate 10 in Gadsden County.
Cappleman says because no one can be sure if Sexton was killed in Jefferson, Leon or Gadsden County, Brookins will be allowed to choose in which county he's tried.
Cappelman says the driver of the prison bus had no idea Sexton was attacked and killed until the bus arrived at its destination at the Northwest Florida Reception Center in Washington County. She says when the inmates filed off the bus there, one had blood on his shirt and one was missing. Sexton was found dead inside the bus.
Cappelman says there was a total of 24 inmates on the bus.
Cappelman says there is no surveillance system that allows the driver and accompanying guard to see what's going on in the back of the bus and there are two plexiglass barriers that may have muffled the sound.
Cappelman says the inmates on board wear leg shackles, but not handcuffs. Cappelman says even if the bus driver heard the attack, the bus would not be able to pull over and stop, except in a secure area or sally port.
We are trying to get more information on this incident from the Department of Corrections. Spokeswoman Ann Howard says DOC will not release information on the DOC's transport protocols because it could jeopardize people's safety.
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UPDATED 7.2.2012 by Julie Montanaro
33 year old Elijah Brookins has just been indicted by a Leon County grand jury in the murder of Eric Sexton.
Sexton was killed aboard a prison transport van in September 2011.
Brookins was indicted last week and this morning, a judge signed an order to transport Brookins from Florida State Prison to Leon County.
According to Department of Corrections records, Brookins is serving a life sentence for a 1995 murder in Escambia County.
Sexton was still alive when he left a stop at Jefferson Correctional. It is not clear where he was killed along the way.
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Tallahassee, FL -- September 21 , 2011 --
According to Gretl Plessinger with Florida Department of Corrections, Eric Sexton, 34, was killed during an inmate transport from one prison to another Tuesday morning. DOC says it happened after a stop at the Jefferson Correctional Institute.
Sexton, who was sentenced in Orange County, was serving a 40-year sentence for second degree murder. Another inmate is being called a suspect in Sexton’s death, but DOC is not releasing his name at this time. Investigators have recovered a weapon, but are not saying what the weapon is at this time.
The inmates were being transported from Columbia Correctional Institute, and heading to Northwest Florida Reception Center in Washington County. DOC will not say how many inmates were on the bus or what security measures were in place. The case remains under investigation.
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