Columbus prison inmate charged in cellmate’s homicide. Witnesses say he choked victim
An inmate who was being held at Columbus’ Rutledge State Prison has been charged with murder in the death of a cellmate.
Nicholas Kyle Shaw, 32, faced charges of murder and aggravated assault Wednesday during a bond hearing in Muscogee Municipal Court.
He is charged in the April 23 death of inmate Daniel Tyler Nichols, 26, authorities said.
An investigator testified that on April 22, other inmates found Shaw atop Nichols in their cell, choking him. They pushed him off, and finding Nichols unresponsive, told Shaw he had killed the man, the officer said.
Nichols was rushed to the hospital, where he remained on life support until it was removed the next day, the investigator said.
Nichols was pronounced dead at 3:25 p.m. that day at Piedmont Columbus Regional, according to the Muscogee County Coroner’s office. Autopsy results were pending, it said.
Charges against Shaw were filed May 1, according to court records. Municipal Court Judge Steven Smith sent the case to Muscogee Superior Court.
According to the Georgia Department of Corrections, Nichols was serving a 12 year sentence for a child molestation conviction.
Shaw was serving 15 years on convictions for two counts of armed robbery and one count each of aggravated assault, using a gun to commit a crime and illegally entering a vehicle, offenses committed in late June 2017 in Gwinnett County, according to Department of Corrections records. He began serving his sentence March 19, 2019.
He has been transferred from Rutledge to the Macon State Prison in Oglethorpe, authorities said.
