Jury convicts Wisconsin inmate accused of killing cellmate for being Black and gay

GREEN BAY Wis AP A Wisconsin man doing time for trying to kill his mother was convicted Wednesday of strangling his cellmate to death in a hate crime A jury identified Jackson Vogel guilty of first-degree intentional homicide in connection with the death of -year-old Micah Laureano at the Green Bay Correctional Institution last year WLUK-TV broadcasted A hate crime enhancement was part of the verdict His attorneys population defenders Ann Larson and Luke Harrison didn t this instant return voicemail messages seeking comment Vogel faces a mandatory life sentence when he s sentenced on June He is already serving a -year prison term handed down in for repeatedly stabbing his mother strangling her and attempting to snap her neck according to an appellate opinion upholding that conviction A guard located Laureano s body hanging from the top bunk of the cell he shared with Vogel on Aug according to a criminal complaint Laureano s hands and feet were tied together with orange material Vogel who is white notified the guard that he killed Laureano because Laureano was Black and gay the complaint stated He commented he knocked Laureano out tied his hands and feet and strangled him Investigators discovered numerous cut strips of orange cloth around the cell as well as a handwritten note that noted Kill all humans followed by profanities directed at Black people and gay people according to the complaint Laureano was serving a three-year sentence in battery and robbery cases His mother Phyllis Laureano filed a federal lawsuit in February accusing prison administrators of failing to protect him from Vogel The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages Green Bay Correctional Institute a maximum assurance facility opened in Republicans have been calling for years to close the prison along with the Waupun Correctional Institution another maximum guard facility where seven inmates have died since But concerns over job losses and the cost of building a new prison have stymied any progress on either front Source