Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
An inmate has pleaded guilty and will remain in lock up after he fatally struck a fellow prisoner in the Bucks County Correctional Facility last year.
According to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, Christopher Sean Williams, 38, of Falls Township’s Levittown section, pleaded guilty Monday to involuntary manslaughter, simple assault, and intimidation of a witness.
Advertisements
Bucks County Judge Diane E. Gibbons sentenced Williams to two and a half to five years in state prison. He will also have to pay $1,864.91 in restitution to the Pennsylvania Crime Victims Compensation Board.
According to court papers, Williams confronted Donald Rush, 57, of Chalfont Borough, on the evening of Sunday, October 11 in the prison’s E block because the man was talking near him while he was trying to sleep.
The strike to the face reportedly caused Rush’s glasses to be knocked off and he began bleeding from his mouth. Rush sought treatment from the prison dispensary and told corrections officers he received the injury when he accidentally struck his head, authorities said.
Advertisements
Hours after being released from the prison dispensary, Rush collapsed after appearing disoriented, according to court papers.
Despite being rushed to Abington Memorial Hospital in Montgomery County, he died several hours later and his death was ruled a homicide.
Advertisements
“I don’t even want to call it an accident. This is absolutely a tragedy,” Williams said while apologizing to Rush’s daughter in court. “I just hope someday that you can forgive me.”
At a preliminary hearing in December, a more serious charge of felony aggravated assault was withdrawn by the district attorney’s office.
Williams, who has a long criminal record including a recent simple assault case, was jailed on a probation violation at the time of the death.
