One prisoner on life support, another charged in jail attack

A murder suspect being held in the Pulaski County jail faces an additional charge of first-degree battery on accusations that he brutally beat another inmate Friday morning over an attack in a group shower.

Fourteen days after being booked into the jail by Little Rock homicide detectives, Ronnie Hervey, 35, purportedly attacked and critically injured Darrell Dean, 39, in the jail's outdoor recreation area.

Shortly before 8:07 a.m., a deputy who was going to take Dean to a video arraignment found him lying unconscious on the ground with a "large pool of blood" around his head, according to a sheriff's office report. Dean had been jailed less than 12 hours earlier on a charge of third-degree domestic battery.

Late Friday, Dean was on life support at UAMS Medical Center in Little Rock. He had a faint pulse and was struggling to breathe before being transported to the hospital, the report states.

The battery charge against Hervey will be upgraded to murder if Dean dies, said Lt. Carl Minden, spokesman for the sheriff's office.

It was unclear when the attack occurred, Minden said. The deputy who found Dean said Dean had a large knot on his head and that "his eye appeared swollen shut like he had been laying there awhile," the report states.

"There were a lot of inmates smoking casually like nothing had took place," the deputy wrote in the report. "Nobody even moved when I walked toward inmate Dean."

Dean and Hervey were both being held in the jail's "D-Unit." Deputies checked inmates there for signs of fighting after Dean was found unconscious. Hervey purportedly had swollen knuckles, and some of his fingers appeared jammed or broken. It also appeared that Hervey had just washed his hands, the deputy reported.

Hervey later "admitted to the attack because he thought the victim was looking at him in the shower," according to an arrest report.

Minden said further circumstances of the attack were not immediately clear and that Hervey was being questioned by investigators. Hervey was moved into isolation.

Hervey has been booked into and out of the jail 13 times since 1997 for crimes ranging from theft to aggravated robbery.

His most recent booking was April 25 when he surrendered to his parole officer on Little Rock first-degree murder warrants.

Little Rock police officials said Hervey shot Marshall Henderson in the chest the day before his surrender.

At the time of Friday's attack, he was being held in lieu of $1 million bond.

It was not the first time Hervey has been accused of attacking a fellow prisoner.

While serving a 10-year sentence in the East Arkansas Regional Unit for robbery, first-degree battery, and drug and weapons crimes, Hervey was subdued by prison guards armed with pepper spray after witnesses said Hervey stabbed another inmate and beat him with a padlock attached to a string.

The injured inmate, Hakim Malik, eventually won a $30,000 claim before the state Claims Commission, saying guards at the prison were at fault for allowing Hervey to sneak into Malik's unit despite earlier threats from Hervey.

Malik suffered serious eye, dental and facial injuries in the attack, and Hervey was punished with 30 days of isolation and the loss of 55 days of "good time" toward his parole eligibility.

There is no record of Hervey being prosecuted in circuit court after the 2011 attack in the state prison.

ADVERTISEMENT

More headlines

Metro on 05/10/2014

Upcoming Events