ABINGDON, Va. — A federal inmate in southwestern Virginia will spend additional time in prison, after a jury found him guilty of manslaughter last October for the death of his cellmate.
Back in 2018, Samuel Silva, 48, was serving a 47-year sentence at U.S. Penitentiary Lee for armed carjacking charges out of New Mexico, when prison officials found his cellmate lying facedown in a pool of blood with a handmade knife protruding from the base of his skull. Silva and the other inmate had been locked in the cell alone when the discovery was made.
It was later discovered that the other inmate had been stabbed more than 150 times.
Silva was charged with murder, but at trial, he claimed that he acted in self-defense.
At trial, the jury found him not guilty of murder, but guilty of voluntary manslaughter.
During his sentencing hearing on Friday, U.S. District Judge Michael Urbanski sentenced him to 15 years in prison, which was the maximum penalty allowed. The judge further ordered that the sentence will not begin until he finishes his current sentence, bringing his total sentence to 62 years.
