A San Diego man is accused of killing his cellmate about a month after the two were connected to a prison yard slaying at California State Prison in Sacramento, officials said.
Tyler Yates, 30, is believed to have stabbed Jake Kennedy, 32, in their cell around 6:15 a.m. on Friday, state corrections officials said. Yates was restrained, and officers began performing life-saving measures on his cellmate.
Kennedy was taken to the prison’s triage unit, where he died around 7 a.m., investigators said. An improvised weapon was found in the cell.
No other injuries were reported.
Both men had been previously accused of using improvised weapons to kill 39-year-old Jonathan Rude in the prison’s main exercise yard on Feb. 22.
Kennedy and Yates had been placed in restricted housing following Rude’s death. Corrections officers said they will keep Yates in the higher-security area while they investigate the incident.
No other information was immediately available.
This is the third accusation against Yates that he killed someone in prison.
Yates arrived at the prison in October 2017 from San Diego County to serve eight years for burglary and assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury as a second striker. In February of last year, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder as a second striker, an in-prison offense.
Kennedy was most recently received from San Bernardino County in February 2020 to serve six years for carrying a concealed dirk or dagger as a second striker. Three years later, he was sentenced for assault as a second striker.
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