MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A man has been charged following the fatal stabbing of an inmate at the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center Thursday.
Donnie Clay, 21, is being charged with First Degree Murder and Taking Contraband Into a Penal Facility.
Court documents state that the victim, Deion Byrd, was handcuffed and waiting to be escorted back into jail when he saw Clay in a holding cell.
Byrd reportedly accused Clay of breaking into his home. Clay denied the accusation and Byrd allegedly spit in his face.
Clay then told him, “I’m going to kill you now,” and chased him with a sharpened piece of metal. Reports state he stabbed Byrd in the neck at least once and threw the knife on the floor.
A deputy stepped into the holding area and saw Byrd lying on the floor bleeding from his neck. Clay reportedly got on his knees and put his hands behind his head after seeing the deputy.
Byrd was taken to Regional One where he later died. The knife was recovered.
According to reports, Clay was scheduled to appear before Judge Paula Skahan on Thursday on a petition to revoke his suspended sentence in a carjacking case.
He is now set to appear in court on Monday.
Laquita Byrd is trying to wrap her mind around the unimaginable.
“He’s gone and you are supposed to be in the safest place. You at 201 Poplar. All the metal detectors, all the sheriff’s deputies. This is unheard of to me,” she said. “I don’t understand.”