The Department of Justice is seeking the death penalty for an inmate after a federal grand jury charged him for allegedly murdering his second cellmate after he allegedly attempted to murder the first one.

27-year-old Jasper Reed is charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and assault resulting in serious bodily injury.

Court documents indicate Reed was sent to prison on a sentence of slightly over four year for a firearms conviction.

Reed was staying at the Federal Transfer Center (FTC) in Oklahoma City when on April 27, 2024 a corrections officer stated they saw Reed attempting to strangle his cellmate.

The officer says they called for both inmates to stop, but neither inmate responded. Pepper spray was then sprayed into the cell, but the officer says Reed still did not stop.

Officers say they then entered the cell and placed Reed in restraints and transported Reed’s cellmate to the hospital.

At the hospital, the cellmate was found to have several facial fractures, including his nasal bone, orbital bone and hyoid bone.

Three days after the incident, Reed allegedly said to an officer, “I am the next up and coming...This whole prison is going to know my name before I leave. You just keep putting other inmates in my cell and you will find out.”

Court documents state that on May 8, Reed was released from increased observation and put into a cell with another inmate who had arrived at the FTC the day before.

An officer says that during their rounds they observed Reed’s new cellmate lying on the floor. Officers then entered the cell and attempted to provide medical care to the inmate.

The cellmate was pronounced dead soon afterwards.

According to the Criminal Complaint filed against Reed, the medical examiner determined the cellmate’s cause of death to be homicide by manual strangulation.

The cellmate was found to have a fractured hyoid bone along with a fractured thyroid and severe chest hemorrhaging.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has authorized for the United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma to seek capital punishment in Reed’s case and the U.S. Attorney filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty.