Man gets life in prison for murder of NM inmate
Posted at: 09/10/2012 8:34 PM
By: The Associated Press
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) - A man convicted of killing another inmate at the Dona Ana County Detention Center in 2004 has been sentenced to life in prison.
New Mexico prosecutors say 44-year-old Paul Othello Smalls was sentenced Monday by a federal judge in Las Cruces.
Smalls was convicted last November of retaliation against a witness or informant, tampering with a witness or informant and killing a person aiding a federal investigation.
Prosecutors say Smalls and two other men strangled 32-year-old Philip T. Gantz on Dec. 30, 2004.
Gantz was giving authorities information about the Roswell area's meth trade and was set to testify in a federal case.
Smalls was a county detention officer from 2002 to 2003. He was being held for raping and severely beating his wife at the time at Gantz's killing.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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