PIKEVILLE, Ky. (AP) - An inmate charged with killing a fellow prisoner at a high-security prison tucked away in the Appalachian region of eastern Kentucky will stand trial in 2016.
Prosecutors are seeking a death sentence for 32-year-old John Travis Millner if he is convicted of killing 35-year-old Vincent Earl Smith Jr. while both were housed at the United States Penitentiary Big Sandy in January 2009.
U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar on Friday set a Feb. 1, 2016 trial date for Millner with the location where the case will be heard to be determined at a later date.
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Prosecutors cited the brutality of Smith’s death as well as Millner’s repeated attacks on others and his conviction for murder in Washington, D.C. as factors in seeking a death sentence.
Millner has pleaded not guilty.
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