Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Weld County, AK: Alaska inmate found dead in Weld County prison

By Joey Bunch
The Denver Post
POSTED: 08/16/2010 06:49:24 PM MDT
UPDATED: 08/16/2010 06:53:47 PM MDT

Authorities from a number of agencies are investigating the death of an inmate from Alaska who was found unresponsive in his cell at Hudson Correctional Facility in Weld County Sunday morning.

Wesley Shandy, 44, of Ninilchik was serving a 19-year sentence for manslaughter in the death of his fiancee, felony drunken driving and witness tampering.

Hudson Correctional houses a number of Alaskan prisoners at the 1,250-bed medium security private prison operated by GEO Group of Boca Raton, Fla.

The company released a statement this afternoon.

"The Hudson Correctional Facility is cooperating fully with the Alaska Department of Corrections, the Colorado Department of Corrections and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation," according to the statement.

A company spokesman citing the investigation said by e-mail he could not comment further.

Shandy's fiance, Roxanne Herndon, was killed in November 2005 — the day they announced their engagement — when he drove a four-wheeler with her aboard into the Ninilchik River. She fell off and drowned, according to the Homer News.

Prosecutors said Shandy urged witnesses to say Herndon was driving the four-wheeler.

Shandy's previous criminal record included the 1989 beating and suffocation death of a drug dealer in Redmond, Wash., according to the Anchorage Daily News.

He also had been convicted of domestic-violence assault, shoplifting, two other DUIs and, at the time of his last arrest, was on parole for unemployment benefits fraud.

"Just fate, just bad luck, just an accident — it's not that," Superior Court Judge Donald Hopwood of Homer said at Shandy's sentencing in January 2009, according to the Homer News.

Hopwood told Shandy another conviction after his release could mean a life sentence.

"You don't have to live a life in the criminal justice system," Hopwood said. "I just hope that you make decisions in the future that are more thoughtful."

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