A white man convicted of the random killing of two Black men in Baton Rouge, La., in 2017 reportedly died by suicide just as he was starting a life sentence. Authorities say Kenneth Gleason, 27, was discovered dead early Wednesday in his cell at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, where he'd been transferred on Monday "to begin a life sentence," reports the AP. He was alone in the cell under a 14-day COVID-19 quarantine period for new inmates, state corrections spokesman Ken Pastorick said in a statement. "While making routine rounds, correctional officers discovered Gleason unresponsive and hanging in his cell," Pastorick added.
Gleason, of Baton Rouge, was convicted in April of first-degree murder in the killings of 49-year-old Donald Smart and 59-year-old Bruce Cofield, per WAFB. Smart was shot dead in a park near Louisiana State University while en route to an overnight shift as a dishwasher on Sept. 14, 2017. Cofield, a homeless man, was shot and killed at a bus stop two days earlier. Prosecutors said Gleason shot both men from his vehicle before standing over them and firing several more bullets. They also presented evidence that Gleason fired three gunshots through the door of the only Black family living on his street, as well as researched white nationalism.
"There's nothing the penal system can do to rehabilitate you," East Baton Rouge District Judge Beau Higginbotham told Gleason in sentencing him to life without parole on Aug. 23, per the Advocate. Though Smart's family had requested a life sentence, per WAFB, Higginbotham added Gleason's execution would have been "appropriate." Gleason was found unresponsive around midnight. His attorney, Jarrett Ambeau, is now questioning the official narrative of suicide, as he claims officials first told the family that his client may have died from a heart attack. "We need to see if this is a cover-up," he said, per the Advocate. An autopsy is planned. (More suicide stories.)
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