TEXARKANA, Texas - A Texas prison inmate accused of killing his cellmate at the Telford Unit in New Boston, Texas, in June 2017 was indicted for capital murder this month by a Bowie County grand jury.
Justin Williams, 25, was serving a 50-year sentence for murder he received in Harris County, Texas, in 2016 when his cellmate, Pete Ayala, was found unresponsive in their cell at the Telford Unit in the early morning of June 25, 2017. Ayala was serving a 40-year term for murder assessed him in Henderson County.
Ayala, 29, was unresponsive, covered in blood and appeared to have been restrained with pieces of fabric torn from a sheet, according to court records. Ayala died the following day at a Texarkana hospital.
Williams allegedly confessed. Williams allegedly told prison investigators that he wanted to fight Ayala because of some "issues" between them but that Ayala did not want to fight.
Williams allegedly admitted that he kicked and stomped Ayala's head and face even after Ayala became unresponsive.
First Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp said her office has not yet determined whether Williams will face the death penalty in Ayala's murder.
The only other punishment for capital murder is life without the possibility of parole.
Williams is being held in the Allred Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Iowa Park, Texas.
According to TDCJ's website, Williams will be eligible for parole in the Harris County murder case Dec. 28, 2039, and will have completely served his time in that case Dec. 26, 2064.