An incarcerated South Burlington man who had been charged with attempted second-degree murder in the alleged assault of another man in custody late last year now is now facing a murder charge.
Mbyayenge Mafuta, 22, is accused of beating Jeffrey Hall, 55, in a cell they shared at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans around 2 p.m. on Dec. 22. Hall died months later, on March 10, from injuries sustained in the beating, according to authorities.
Vermont State Police announced Tuesday they had recently received the final autopsy report from the state’s Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington regarding Hall’s death. The medical examiner, according to a press release, determined that the cause of Hall’s death was blunt force trauma to his head and the manner of death was homicide.
As a result, police said, Mafuta was issued a citation on a second-degree murder charge in Hall’s death.
Mafuta is set to be arraigned on the charge Aug. 22 in Franklin County Superior criminal court in St. Albans, according to the release. He remains held without bail.
No additional information on the upgraded charge was immediately available Tuesday afternoon. More details are expected to be released when a police affidavit in support of the charge becomes public after Mafuta’s arraignment.
An affidavit of probable cause filed earlier this year in support of the attempted second-degree murder charge against Mafuta outlined his behavior in the days leading up to the alleged beating.
Just days earlier, according to the affidavit, Mafuta was moved to a segregated unit at the prison after telling a guard that he was “hearing voices and they would not stop.”
In addition, the affidavit stated, Mafuta reportedly had been “screaming and banging things around in his cell,” and told a guard that he wanted to kill himself.
The next day, Dec. 20, according to the affidavit, Mafuta was returned to the general population after medical and mental health professionals at the prison reported he had no thoughts of self-harm or wanting to harm others.
On Dec. 22, Mafuta beat Hall in the small cell the two men shared, leaving Hall with life-threatening injuries, according to the police affidavit.
