Inmate convicted in deadly 2006 Missouri prison stabbing

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- An inmate was convicted Wednesday of using a makeshift knife to fatally stab a fellow prisoner and injure another more than a decade ago at a federal prison hospital in Missouri.

The same jurors who found Ulysses Jones Jr. guilty of first-degree murder and two other counts will hear more evidence before deciding whether to recommend the death penalty. Jones, 61, is being treated for end-stage renal disease and it's unclear whether he would survive the decadelong appeal process that is typical before an execution. His defense lawyers say he is slowly dying.

The deadly attack happened in January 2006 after Timothy Baker accused Jones and another inmate at the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield of stealing, the U.S. attorney's office said in a news release.

The release said that after Baker took medication to make him sleep, Jones stabbed him in the chest. Baker leaped up from his bed, took a few steps forward and then fell facedown. Jones then jumped on Baker's back and stabbed him at least four more times. The 38-year-old Baker, who was from Ohio, had served about half of his six-year sentence for a cocaine-related conviction when he was killed.

A second inmate sustained multiple injuries while attempting to fend Jones off, the release said.

On the day before the attack, Baker and 10 other inmates signed a petition that accused Jones and the other inmate of the thefts and asked they be removed from the unit, the release said.

Jones already is serving a life sentence for two robberies and killings in 1979 and 1980 in Washington, D.C.