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Press Release

White Supremacist Sentenced for Role in Murder of Fellow Federal Prison Inmate

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Texas

              BEAUMONT, Texas – A 40-year-old federal inmate has been sentenced for his role in the murder of a fellow prisoner in the Eastern District of Texas announced U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Cox today.

              Michael Jason Shelton, of Henagar, Alabama, pleaded guilty on July 13, 2020, to accessory after the fact-murder, and was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison today by U.S. District Judge Marcia Crone.

              On June 13, 2018, Rickey Fackrell, 36, of Vernal, Utah, and Christopher Cramer, 38, of Ogden, Utah, were both sentenced to death after being convicted by a jury of first degree murder  following a six-week federal trial before Judge Crone.

              According to information presented in court, beginning in March 2014, Cramer and Fackrell, inmates of the U.S. Penitentiary in Beaumont, Texas,  murdered fellow inmate, Leo Johns.  On June 9, 2014, Cramer and Fackrell stabbed Leo Johns to death at the federal prison. Shelton pleaded guilty to being an accessory to the murder. All three inmates were members of the white supremacy group, Soldiers of the Aryan Culture.

              This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Prisons-SIS.  This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys John B. Ross and Rachel Grove.

Updated January 6, 2021

Topic
Violent Crime