Utah man sentenced in fellow inmate's racially motivated death

The Associated Press

Published: June 3, 2014 11:11 am
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Atlanta • Federal prosecutors say two prison inmates — one of them from Utah — have been sentenced in a fatal, racially motivated assault on another inmate.

Authorities say 53-year-old Donald LaFond Jr. was sentenced to life in prison and 35-year-old Jason Robert Widdison was sentenced to 31 years and eight months.

Prosecutors say LaFond of New Bedford, Massachusetts and Widdison of Morgan, Utah, are white supremacists who assaulted another inmate in 2011 who didn't object to having a black cellmate at a federal prison in Atlanta. Both men were convicted of murder in early February.

Authorities say LaFond and Widdison tried pressuring the inmate to ask for a new cellmate, but he refused. Prosecutors say the two considered it a violation of a code governing a prison gang the victim wasn't part of.

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