Inmate convicted of assault, murder charge withdrawn due to case law

Nico Rossi
·2 min read

EYEWITNESS NEWS (WBRE/WYOU) — The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced Friday that a federal inmate was convicted of assault with intent to commit murder and assault resulting in serious bodily injury after an initial murder charge was withdrawn due to the “year and a day rule.”

U.S. Attorney Gerard M. Karam says 50-year-old Lorenzo Scott, formerly of Rayville, Louisiana, and an inmate at U.S. Penitentiary (USP) Lewisburg was convicted on charges stemming from a physical assault on March 25, 2015, when Scott repeatedly hit, stomped, and inflicted blunt force trauma to his cellmate’s head, causing life-threatening injuries.

According to officials, a corrections officer at USP Lewisburg was conducting his rounds around 4:00 a.m. when he saw Scott stomping on the cellmate’s head, as he lay on the floor in a puddle of blood.

Karam added that the cellmate died around 2 years and 2 months after being assaulted by Scott.

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The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the original indictment initially charged Scott with murder, however, that charge was withdrawn due to an existing federal case law known as the “year and a day rule.”

According to U.S. officials the “year and a day rule,” is a rule that relieves a defendant of the responsibility of murder if the victim dies later than a year and a day after the initial infliction of the wound which caused their death.

Karam stated that during the trial Scott testified and admitted to assaulting his cellmate intending to kill him.

A bill has been introduced to Congress that would abolish the “year and a day rule” in federal murder cases.

Scott is awaiting sentencing as the charges of assault with intent to commit murder and assault resulting in serious bodily injury each have a maximum sentence under federal law of up to 20 years in prison, a term of supervised release, and a fine.

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