Inmate guilty of attempted murder of guard

Posted at: 10/30/2009 10:47 AM | Updated at: 10/30/2009 2:47 PM
By: Reed Upton, KOB.com

An inmate at the Curry County jail has been found guilty of the attempted murder of a jail guard with a homemade shank.

Clovis district attorney Matthew Chandler says that jurors spent less than an hour deliberating before delivering guilty verdicts on all charges against 29-year-old Guadalupe Urquizo.

Urquizo was charged with attempted murder, aggravated battery and possession of a deadly weapon by a prisoner.

According to Chandler, Urquizo began arguing with a detention officer who was serving him a tray of food on October 24, 2008.

When the guard and a colleague later returned to retrieve the food tray from Urquizo’s cell, Chandler says he attacked the detention officers with a seven-inch-long, metal shank.

Other guards responded and were able to restrain Urquizo. The two guards involved in the attack were treated for their injuries at Plains Regional medical Center.

Urquizo, who is to be sentenced in the next 90 days, faces a maximum sentence of 24 years, according to Chandler.

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