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An inmate at the Terre Haute Federal Correctional Complex faces life in prison for allegedly murdering his cellmate in 2016.
U.S. District Court Judge James Sweeney sentenced Joshua Mebane, 29, of Maryland last week after Mebane pleaded guilty to first degree murder back in October.
According to the Department of Justice, at the time the murder took place, Mebane was serving a 45-year sentence in Terre Haute for another first degree murder committed in the District of Columbia.
He had later been convicted of murder and attempted murder in Maryland for a crime in 2012, in which he received multiple life sentences.
On Jan. 26, 2016, inmate Michael Tucker moved into Mebane’s cell in Terre Haute. Two days later, correctional officers went to retrieve Mebane for a medical appointment.
According to policy, all inmates in a cell must show they’re handcuffed before a cell is opened. When officers called for both Mebane and Tucker to be handcuffed, Mebane told the officers he had killed Tucker, according to court documents.
Officers entered the cell to investigate and found Tucker lying in the bottom bunk bed covered by a blanket. Life-saving measures were initiated by medics, but Tucker had no pulse and was cold to the touch.
The medical examiner ruled that Tucker died from asphyxiation.
“This life sentence reflects our office’s commitment to justice for all victims, including those who are incarcerated in federal correctional facilities. The horrific murder deserves one of the harshest penalties allowed under the law, and I sincerely hope that the completion of this prosecution brings some measure of closure and peace to Mr. Tucker’s family,” said John Childress, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, in a news release.
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