The man obtains 6 years to strangle cell comrades in Santa Rita prison

Dublin – A man was sentenced to six years in prison for killing his cell companion in Santa Rita prison during a fight that a neighboring detainee later said that the police had been very noisy and lasted 30 minutes, but is not controlled by the staff, according to the judicial archives.

Emil Cochran, 33, was alone in a cell with Devin Darnell West, 28, November 15, 2021, when the two were fought to death. West had been beaten but died of a strangulation, and the two had only been cell comrades for about 24 hours before the deadly altercation, according to the judicial archives.

There was no doubt who was the culprit, but Cochran said that he “broadcast a threat” and that West had continued him, according to a testimony to Cochran’s preliminary hearing in 2024. The deputies also testified that the two were accommodated in a part of the prison for prisoners with mental illness, and that West was known to be “aggressive” the hearing.

But Cochran was also heard narrating to the west while the deputies were arrested for homicide, and the neighboring detainee admitted that he had never pushed his “panic” button to alert the deputies of “holly and howls” next to it.

Last October, Cochran did not argue any competition in exchange for the sentence of six years in prison, which gives him more than three years of credit for the time already spent behind bars. He was officially sentenced in December and transferred to the state prison of North Kern on January 25, where he remains, according to the files.

At the time of homicide, Cochran was in prison for an alleged violation of parole and West was serving a brief sentence for automatic burglary. When the deputies discovered the incident, Cochran was still at the western top, according to the police testimony.

Santa Rita, the only adult prison establishment in the county of Alameda, signed a decree of federal consent the year which followed the death of West, agreeing to extend the mental services to the prison. The agreement has been controversial, many defenders who support a type of reform, the decree, have not gone far enough or were fundamentally defective. Sheriff managers have made “excellent progress” to the increase in security in prison in the past three years – praising more staff training and a new job program for imprisoned people – and has recently opened the establishment’s doors for a day of media visits.