Ocala, Florida – Brandon Ejae Elliot (35, Tampa) has been sentenced by Senior United States District Judge John Antoon II to eight years in federal prison—the statutory maximum—for one count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of possession of contraband (a weapon) by a federal prisoner. A federal jury found Elliot guilty on May 7, 2026. United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.
According to the evidence presented during the four-day trial, on December 3, 2022, Elliot was a federal inmate in the United States Penitentiary-II in the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex in Sumter County. During a routine headcount of the prisoners, Elliot and his cellmate, C.W.J., were locked in their cell at 9:30 AM. When correctional officers opened the cell at 11:00 AM, they found C.W.J. unresponsive with multiple puncture wounds to his body. A sharpened metal shank lay nearby on the cell floor. C.W.J. was transported to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. A medical examiner determined that C.W.J. had been stabbed 12 times by an object matching the appearance and dimensions of the shank found on the cell floor.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Hannah Nowalk Watson and William S. Hamilton.
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office — Middle District of Florida — U.S. Department of Justice press release.