Two Kentucky prisoners fatally attacked another inmate, federal grand jury charges

Two men have been indicted in federal court for allegedly killing an inmate at the federal penitentiary in McCreary County in March 2021.

Jeremy Lynn Bunch, 37, and Kenneth Paul King, 43, are charged with second-degree murder and aiding and abetting after causing the death of 50-year-old Brian Bennett, according to court documents.

A grand jury indicted the two men Thursday, and said the men, “with malice aforethought, did unlawfully kill Brian Bennett,” by repeatedly striking him.

Officials said staff members at the prison were called to respond to an altercation between inmates around 1 p.m. on March 6, 2021, and secured the area, according to the Commonwealth Journal. Bennett was critically injured during the incident and was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Bennett had in custody at the prison since January 2021 and was serving a 10-year sentence for distribution of methamphetamine and possession of a firearm as a felon, according to court documents.

Bunch was in custody at the time of the attack for violating his probation by fleeing or evading police. He was serving a three-year prison sentence, according to court documents. King was serving a 17-year prison sentence at the time of the attack for multiple federal drug trafficking charges and a felon in possession of a firearm charge, according to court documents.

Neither men are still at the prison in McCreary county. Bunch is currently housed in USP Florence ADMAX in Colorado, according to the Bureau of Prisons. King is currently housed at USP Atwater in eastern California.

Both men face life imprisonment.

USP McCreary is located in Pine Knot, and houses more than 1,500 male inmates.