PRESS RELEASE
March 31, 2008
Covington, Ky. —Two Big Sandy Inmates were sentenced on Friday for violently assaulting a fellow inmate at the United Stapes Penitentiary, Big Sandy, by United States District Court Judge David Bunning.
Luis Arechiga, 29, of Sisseton, S.D., and William Eschief, 29, of Scottsdale, Ariz., were found guilty by a jury of the charges in February of this year. The evidence at trial established that Eschief and Arechiga entered the cell of William Davison to attack him. Video surveillance showed that Davison managed to escape the cell, only to be tackled by the defendants. Arechiga held the victim down while Eschief stabbed him over forty times with a nine inch homemade knife. Arechiga also kicked the victim several times in the head, but Davison survived the assault. Eschief received a sentence of six years while Arechiga was sentenced to eight years. These sentences will not begin to run until Eschief and Arechiga have finished serving their current sentences. Eschief is serving a current prison sentence for car jacking, while Arechiga is serving a term for assault on an Indian Reservation.
Under federal law, Eschief and Arechiga must serve 85 percent of their prison sentence. Upon release, they will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for five years.
James A. Zerhusen, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Larry R. Willis, Special Agent in Charge Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI), jointly made the announcement Friday after the sentencing.
The investigation was conducted by the (FBI). The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorneys Patrick H. Molloy and Andrew L. Sparks.