Inmate serving time for Trumbull murder faces new capital murder charges
A man already serving a life sentence for a Trumbull County murder in 2017 could get an even greater penalty after a fatal fight in the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution in Lucasville earlier this year.
Austin Burke, 25, has been charged with aggravated murder with two specifications that carry a possible death penalty.
What was the fatal fight about?
Burke was indicted October 24 by a Scioto County grand jury in connection to a fatal prison fight in August. The fight was between Burke and 65-year-old inmate Ruben Melendez, who was taken to a local hospital and then pronounced dead from head trauma, according to investigators with the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
On the social media site “Justice for Austin T. Burke”, Burke’s mother Jamie Sell claimed that Melendez initiated the fight and that her son was defending himself.
Burke was in the Lucasville prison after being sentenced by Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Andrew Logan to a 47-year to life sentence. He was found guilty by a jury of murdering a Bristolville man, 22-year-old Brandon Sample. He was also given prison sentences on charges connected to an armed robbery of a Cortland pizza shop and a separate incident where a shank weapon was found in his cell at the Trumbull County jail.
The death penalty and repeat violent offender sanctions are in effect because Burke allegedly committed this latest offense while under detention for a previous murder and because of his previous violent criminal history.
Arraignment for the latest charges against Burke will be held at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 22 before Judge Mark E. Kuhn of the Scioto County Common Pleas Court in Portsmouth, Ohio.
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