Man pleads guilty in Nevada prison killing

One of 2 men prosecutors said were tied to a 2016 fatal stabbing astatine High Desert State Prison pleaded blameworthy this week to first-degree murder.

Anthony “Mugsy” Williams, 38, agreed to a condemnation of beingness successful situation without the anticipation of parole, alternatively of the decease penalty, said his defence attorney, Gary Modafferi. Williams and 36-year-old Tarik “Torque” Goicoechea had been accused of participating successful the fatal stabbing of chap captive Andrew Thurgood successful February 2016.

In March 2020, a justice dismissed the decease punishment case against Goicoechea, but a expansive assemblage again indicted him successful July 2020 connected charges including murder, battle and racketeering.

Goicoechea pleaded blameworthy Wednesday to racketeering and battle with a deadly limb done what is known arsenic an Alford plea, which means helium admitted lone that prosecutors had capable grounds to beryllium his guilt, according to Dayvid Figler, 1 of his defence attorneys.

Prosecutors besides agreed not to question the decease punishment for Goicoechea, who is present facing six to 22-and-a-half years successful prison, Figler said.

“Our presumption has ever been that this should ne'er person been a decease punishment case,” Figler said. “It didn’t truly marque consciousness for them to complaint our lawsuit with murder.”

The charges Goicoechea pleaded blameworthy to did not subordinate to Thurgood’s killing, helium said. The battle complaint stemmed from July 2019, erstwhile prosecutors accused Goicoechea of attempting to stab captive Patrick Eiken, tribunal documents show.

The racketeering charges the 2 men faced came from a sweeping indictment against 21 different reputed members of the Aryan Warriors, a Nevadan achromatic supremacist situation gang.

Figler has antecedently said that prosecutors had not shown capable grounds that Goicoechea was an Aryan Warrior.

The August 2019 indictment was the archetypal clip prosecutors publically linked Williams and Goicoechea to Thurgood’s killing, portion nary different crimes listed successful the indictment occurred earlier January 2019.

A time earlier the 26-year-old was stabbed 52 times wrong a locked cell, Williams wrote to a pistillate predicting helium would soon beryllium punished. That missive made nary notation to Goicoechea.

In an internal email from precocious 2018, a apical authoritative successful the authorities lawyer general’s office, which oversees crimes successful the situation system, recommended that nary charges beryllium filed against the suspects.

A national suit filed successful 2018 by Thurgood’s household alleged that a corrections serviceman allowed Thurgood to participate a compartment with 2 different prisoners, though 3 radical were not allowed successful a compartment astatine 1 time. The 2 different prisoners stabbed Thurgood, past pressed a telephone fastener and told a corrections serviceman determination was a “man down,” according to the lawsuit.

An serviceman opened the compartment doorway electronically earlier the men dragged Thurgood’s assemblage retired and “gave each different a ‘high five,’” the suit alleged. The suit besides claimed that corrections officers “intentionally delayed successful responding to Andrew’s information and allowed Andrew to bleed retired connected the floor.”

The suit was settled extracurricular of tribunal for an undisclosed magnitude successful April 2020, tribunal records show.

A sentencing proceeding for Williams is scheduled for Nov. 18, portion Goicoechea is scheduled to beryllium sentenced connected Dec. 15.

Contact Katelyn Newberg astatine knewberg@reviewjournal.com oregon 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg connected Twitter.