Herlong Inmate Sentenced for Violent Assault

SACRAMENTO, CA—Herlong Prison inmate Erwin Shane Stamper, 32, of Cocke County, Tennessee, was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller to 15 years in prison for a savage attack on another inmate that caused serious injury, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

On October 11, 2013, a jury convicted Stamper of conspiring to assault another person and committing an assault against another person in 2011 that resulted in serious bodily injury. Stamper was previously convicted of two other assaults, one when he stabbed a correctional officer in the throat with a shank.

According to evidence presented at trial, Stamper and two other prisoners attacked a fourth prisoner in a recreation cage at a federal prison in California. Once the three assailants were uncuffed though a slot in the recreation cage door, they simultaneously attacked the fourth inmate. Their victim was still cuffed and remained in restraints during the entire assault. The three assailants brought their victim to the ground almost instantly. They continued to stomp and kick him while he was restrained. After a short while, the other two assailants backed off. Stamper did not. He landed heavy blow after heavy blow to the face of a man that was both restrained and, at this point, unconscious. As soon as the prison staff had a sufficient force ratio, they entered the recreation cage, detained the assailants and provided immediate medical assistance to the victim. The victim was quickly air lifted to a hospital in Reno, Nevada, where he was treated by a trauma team.

Two surgeons testified at the trial. They described the victim’s injuries, which included the fact that Stamper and his partners broke nearly every bone in the victim’s face, the fracturing of his skull, and created huge, lacerations that contributed to the victim losing over 50 percent of his blood volume. Both doctors stated that there was a high probability that the victim would have died if he had not received immediate medical treatment.

At sentencing, Stamper was remorseless. He told Judge Mueller that the victim “deserved worse than what he got.” In light of Judge Mueller’s sentence today, Stamper will spend the next 38 years in prison. Stamper received a total of 23 years in prison for his other two assault convictions.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. Assistant United States Attorneys Michael M. Beckwith, Chi Soo Kim, and Jeffrey A. Spivak prosecuted the case.