Michigan prisoner pleads no contest in murder of his cellmate
A 47-year-old Michigan prisoner has pleaded no contest to first-degree murder charges in the 2022 stabbing death of his cellmate.
It is alleged that on Oct. 18, 2022, Michael Ketchum went to breakfast and stabbed a fellow inmate at the Macomb County Correctional Facility in Lenox, Michigan, several times in the head, neck and arm. When officers went to Ketchum's cell, they found his cellmate, Ruben Martinez, hogtied, strangled, and stabbed to death underneath his bed.
Ketchum was charged with first-degree murder, assault with intent to murder and being a prisoner in possession of a weapon. Prosecutors say the other charges will be dismissed because a second victim refused to cooperate with the investigation.
In agreeing to plead no contest to first-degree murder, prosecutors say Ketchum will absorb the sentences for the other charges.
"By pleading no contest to first-degree murder, the defendant has taken responsibility for his actions, ensuring justice for the victim's family and his loved ones. This guarantees that he will spend the rest of his life behind bars," said Macomb County Prosecutor Peter J. Lucido in a news release.
Ketchum was previously convicted of assault with intent to murder, armed robbery, kidnapping, operating and maintaining a methamphetamine lab, felony firearms, being a prisoner possessing a weapon and being a prisoner in possession of contraband.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 23.
