Inmate dead at Parchman 'young life wasted'
Jasper Bell, who shot a Jackson State University researcher and was accused as an accessory in the slaying of a high school student in 2010, was found dead in his cell Friday at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.
A release from the Mississippi Department of Corrections said Bell, 21, who was housed alone, was pronounced dead at 12:03 p.m. Cause of death is pending an autopsy. .
Sunflower County Coroner Heather Burton said she's not able to release details on his death, and that they must be released by the Department of Corrections.
"Because of MDOC's ongoing investigation, we are not discussing the manner and/or cause of death. We are not discussing the case," said MDOC spokeswoman Grace Fisher said Sunday.
Bell was serving a 35-year sentence for multiple convictions in Hinds County including armed robbery, aggravated assault, residential burglary and carjacking. His crimes were committed in 2010, and he was sentenced on Jan. 4, 2012.
Bell pleaded guilty to the 2010 shooting of JSU researcher Andrea Scott. She was shot in the back of the head twice in the course of a robbery.
He was also charged with accessory after the fact in the 2010 shooting death of 16-year-old Jim Hill High School student Falisha Miller.
Bell had escaped the Henley Young Juvenile Facility when he was 15, shortly after his arrest in 2010. Three weeks later, he became a suspect in Miller's death.
Standing in court in 2012, Bell told Judge Winston Kidd that he was in a Jackson street gang by age 10, and by 13 was on drugs. At 15, Bell was accused of the crimes he was serving time for..
At age 17, Bell pleaded guilty in Hinds County Circuit Court to, among other things, Scott's shooting and armed robbery.
"You're a young life wasted," Kidd told Bell in court that day, and he asked Bell how he went wrong. Bell's answer? He needed "drugs and money."
In that 2012 court appearance, Bell apologized to his family and said he'd been raised better, according to The Clarion-Ledger's Jimmie Gates, who was in the courtroom.
Contact Therese Apel at tapel@gannett.com. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.