Dwight Matthew Williams, 42, Inmate # QN9683 at SCI Phoenix, charged with two counts of murder in death of another inmate.
An inmate at SCI Phoenix admitted to stomping another inmate to death at the state prison was sentenced Monday in Montgomery County Court to 15 to 30 years in prison.
Dwight Matthew Williams, 43, formerly of Philadelphia, pleaded guilty to felony third-degree murder in connection with the Aug. 4, 2024 beating of Ashokkumar Guru, 67, according to court records.
A motive for the fatal attack was never revealed by authorities, nor in court, according to The Mercury.
The sentence will run consecutively to Williams’s 6- to 12-year prison term he is currently serving for an aggravated assault and illegal firearms conviction in May 2022 from a Philadelphia arrest in November 2019, according to court documents. Judge Wendy G. Rothstein imposed the sentence as part of a plea agreement.
He was also sentenced in October on drug smuggling charges, adding one to two years onto his six to 12-year prison term. He pleaded guilty to conspiring with another inmate and two civilians to smuggle xylazine and naloxone into the state prison in Skippack Township, before being thwarted by corrections officers.
In a criminal complaint, Pennsylvania State Police and the Montgomery County District Attorney said the victim was found with blood on his face and on a nearby box, consistent with an attack.
Officers immediately began CPR, which was continued by arriving Plymouth Ambulance EMS personnel. Despite the lifesaving measures, Guru was pronounced dead at 10:24 a.m., according to authorities.
"Upon their arrival to the cell, it was apparent to (the paramedic) that the unresponsive individual had been beaten on the head where e observed blood around the victim’s head and bruising around the victim’s eyes and head,” stated the criminal complaint. “He observed a suspected shoe imprint on the victims’ face.”
Montgomery County detectives and Pennsylvania State Police began a joint homicide investigation into Guru’s death. Detectives and troopers reviewed surveillance video and found that Guru’s cellmate was not in his cell at the time of the incident, police said.
At 9:12 a.m., Guru is seen leaving his cell to fill his water bottle across the cellblock and then returns straightaway. At 9:16 a.m., Williams can be seen entering Guru’s cell, then exiting at 9:25 a.m., police said.
At 9:29 a.m., Williams is seen entering his own cell, and a red substance can be seen on the bottom of his left sneaker, authorities allege. Williams leaves his cell a few minutes later holding a brown paper bag and tries to get another inmate to discard the bag immediately, but the cellblock had already been locked down, police said.
Investigators recovered the paper bag and found it contained a white Fila sneaker, according to authorities. The investigation also found that another inmate had allegedly witnessed the attack on Guru.
“He looked into the window of the victim’s cell while the cell door was closed and observed (the inmate) stomping on the victim’s chest,” states the complaint.
An autopsy was performed by Dr. Khalil Wardak, a forensic pathologist with the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office. Wardak found the cause of death was blunt impact injuries and the manner of death was homicide.
Authorities told PerkValleyNow that Guru was serving a life sentence for first degree murder on a Philadelphia County conviction. He arrived at SCI Phoenix on Dec. 22, 2021, according to authorities.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
