Inmate convicted in slaying of cellmate

An inmate at Wasco State Prison has been convicted of first-degree murder in the 2017 strangulation killing of his cellmate.

A Kern County jury returned the guilty verdict March 7 against Michael Beardsley in the death of his cellmate, James Morris District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer reported, giving details of the case in a press release.

On Feb. 7, 2017, at around 3:05 p. m., a corrections officer heard inmates yelling “man down” in the area of cell 112. Responding officers saw the two assigned inmates inside cell 112; inmate Michael Beardsley was standing in the cell near the door and inmate Jason Morris was nonresponsive, face down in a puddle of blood.

In addition to the pool of blood in the cell, there was blood splatter in the cell, as well as reddened water in the toilet/sink area. Responding staff escorted Beardsley out of the cell, and continued lifesaving measures that were unsuccessful. During the course of medical intervention, Morris’ severe injuries to his body (particularly his head and face) were immediately apparent.

While trying to revive him, medical staff removed “a noose or ligature” from Morris’s neck. The only apparent injury to the defendant was a swollen right hand. Medical intervention ended at about 3:25 p. m.

The cause of death was determined to be strangulation by ligature, although there was also significant blunt force trauma to the head, as well as multiple rib fractures.

After Morris died, the mother of the Beardsley’s daughter received multiple handwritten letters from Beardsley in which Beardsley made admissions about killing his cellmate. In one letter, Beardsley wrote, “I’m in the SHU in Corcoran right now for killing my celly.” In another letter, Beardsley wrote, “I just killed a man,” and in another letter, Beardsley wrote, “I killed my celly because he washed his hands, LOL, crazy right.” In another letter, when discussing being in special confinement Beardsley wrote, “It’s like they are mad at me for killing that fool at their front door.”

Representatives of the district attorney met with Beardsley on June 29, 2018. During the course of that contact, Beardsley told representatives of the DA’s office that he sent the office a demand for trial because, “I have been waiting for trial for a year and a half on a murder that I committed in the institution.”

On Jan. 29, 2018, in an unrelated incident, when told that he would be sent back to his cell, Beardsley spontaneously stated to the CDCR officers something to the effect of, “I’m not going back. You send me back and you’ll have another dead body … I’ve already killed one, and I’ll kill anyone else, CDC is playing games, and I don’t give a shit.”

The jury returned a guilty verdict for first-degree murder after one hour of deliberation.

Beardsley had three prior “strike” offenses, including two for felony gang participation and one for assault with a deadly weapon. Sentencing is scheduled for April 4. Beardsley faces an expected sentence of more than 50 years.

District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer commented on the conviction; “Our expanded Homicide Unit continues to produce results in fighting to ensure that the most-violent career criminals remain behind bars, where they belong.”