Two Prisoners At Fed Med Convicted Of Fellow Inmates Death In 2010:

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Federal Medical Center For Prisoners--Springfield

August 11, 2010:

Two prisoners at the Federal Medical Center for Prisoners in Springfield have been charged with murder for the death of a fellow inmate last January.

Repeated attempts to obtain the April indictments were unsuccessful. They were finally forwarded to The Ozarks Sentinel this morning.

A grand jury indicted Wesley Paul Coonce Jr., 30, Mansfield, Texas, and Charles Michael Hall, 39, for the January 26th murder of Victor Castro-Rodriquez.

Castro-Rodriquez, 51, who was incarcerated "because he was dangerous due to mental illness" was found unresponsive in his cell. After failed attempts to resuscitate him, Castro-Rodriquez was pronounced dead about 8:40 p.m.

Warden Marty Anderson says that Castro-Rodriquez, who was from southern Florida had been incarcerated at the Fed Med since 2002, and did not have a cell mate.

The indictments state:

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  1. The death or injuries resulting in death, occurred during the commission or
  attempted commission, of an offense (murder by prisoner serving life
  term.)
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  2. The defendant has previously been convicted of 2 or more Federal or State
  offenses punishable by a term of imprisonment of more than 1 year, committed on different occasions, involving the infliction of, or attempted infliction of, serious bodily injury or death.
• 3. The defendant committed the offense in an especially heinous, cruel, or depraved
  manner in that it involved torture or serious physical abuse to Victor Castro-Rodriguez.
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  4. The defendant committed the offense after substantial planning and premeditation
  to cause the death of Victor Castro-Rodriguez.
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  5. The victim, Victor Castro-Rodriguez, was particularly vulnerable due to infirmity,
  in this case, mental illness.

Coonce was sentenced to life in prison after he pleaded guilty to kidnapping and carjacking a woman from the parking lot of a Fort Worth grocery store in March of 2002. Coonce sexually assaulted the woman in Texas and Oklahoma then told her he was taking her to Michigan.
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The woman told authorities that after Coonce stopped for gas in Missouri, she grabbed the truck keys off the store counter when he turned away. She ran back to the truck and attempted to flee but the emergency brake was engaged. When she ran back into the convenience store and asked the clerk to call police, Coonce fled in her pickup.
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Charles Michael Hall is incarcerated at the Fed Med for making telephone bomb threats targeting former President George Bush's Kennebunkport home and the Portland International Jetport while he was incarcerated on an unrelated matter .  He also mailing threatening letters to the U. S. Attorney Jay P. McCloskey who was investigating the bomb threats. He was scheduled to be released from prison on September 27, 2018.

UPDATE 05-08-14:

 Two inmates at the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield have been convicted in federal court of murdering another inmate at the facility four years ago.

A federal jury found Wesley Paul Coonce, Jr., 34, and Charles Michael Hall, 43, guilty yesterday (05-07-14) of one count of murder in the first degree.  Coonce was also found guilty of one count of murder by an inmate serving a life sentence. 

Fifty one year-old Victor Castro-Rodriguez, who had been incarcerated at the Fed Med since 2002 and suffered from mental disease, was found dead on the floor of his jail cell on January 26, 2010.

It took jurors about an hour to return with the verdicts.  They will now decide whether Hall and Coonce should receive a death sentence or life without the possibility of parole. 

UPDATE 06-03-14:

A federal jury has sentenced both Coonce and Hall to death.

United States Attorney Tammy Dickinson of the Western District of Missouri made the announcement.

          “Two federal inmates senselessly killed another inmate, and today, they have been brought to justice,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell.  “The Justice Department is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all Bureau of Prisons employees and inmates.” 

“Achieving justice sometimes requires us to ask our citizens to make the most difficult sentencing decisions,” said U.S. Attorney Dickinson.   “We appreciate their patience and commitment throughout trial.  The defendants’ conduct strikes at the heart of our justice system, which depends upon the safety and security of our penal institutions.  Mr. Castro was targeted for murder, in part, because he intervened to help a Bureau of Prisons employee as he was being attacked by another inmate.” 

        Wesley Paul Coonce Jr., 34, and Charles Michael Hall, 43, who are both inmates at the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners, were found guilty on May 7, 2014, of one count of murder in the first degree.  Coonce was also found guilty of one count of murder by an inmate serving a life sentence.  The trial began on April 28, 2014, before U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner of the Western District of Missouri.

        The evidence presented at trial demonstrated that another inmate at the prison medical center, Victor Castro-Rodriguez, 51, was found dead on the floor of his cell on Jan. 26, 2010, and had been murdered by Coonce and Hall.  At the time of the murder, Coonce was serving a life sentence for a kidnapping and carjacking that involved the brutal rape of a young woman, and Hall was serving a combined 194-month sentence from the District of Maine for making threatening communications against a federal judge and a federal prosecutor.