Convicted sex offender pleads guilty to jail fight death

Published 1:30 am Monday, March 18, 2019

Associated Press

TACOMA — A convicted sex offender has pleaded guilty to killing a man during a fight in a Washington state jail cafeteria.

The News Tribune reported thavGregory Eugene Coley Jr., 39, pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter for the January 2018 death of Jerry Spicer, 63.

A judge has sentenced Coley to 41 months in prison.

Both men worked in the dining hall at the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island in Puget Sound southwest of Tacoma.

Authorities say the men argued and Coley chest-bumped and then shoved Spicer, who fell and hit his head on the floor.

Officials say Spicer later died of his injuries at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma.

Coley was committed to the center for sex crime offenders in 2002 while Spicer had been there since 2005.