BOISE, Idaho — An inmate at the Idaho State Correctional Institution accused of beating his cellmate to death over the weekend was arraigned on murder charges Monday afternoon.
Colton Jeffery Reagan, 25, appeared in court via video stream from the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, where he was moved after the death.
Reagan is accused of attacking and fatally wounding 57-year-old Gerald Cummings Jr., with whom he shared a cell.
Prison staff responding to a report of a fight early Saturday morning found Cummings unresponsive, with injuries that appeared to be from a physical beating. Despite paramedics' efforts, Cummings was pronounced dead an hour after being found.
Cummings and Reagan were alone in their cell at the time of the attack, according to the Ada County Sheriff's Office. Investigators say they are still working to determine a motive in the killing.
Officials with the Idaho Department of Correction declined to release any prior disciplinary action or acts of violence involving the suspect at the prison.
Court records show that Reagan was serving a sentence for grand theft and drug possession, with a parole hearing scheduled for next year.
Cummings, who was also serving a drug-related sentence, was set for release in 2025.
The killing comes four years after another ISCI inmate, convicted child killer Jim Junior Nice, fatally attacked his cellmate Glenn Arthur Cox. Nice, who was already serving a life sentence, died by suicide in 2018.
If convicted, Reagan faces up to life in prison or the death penalty.
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