Man in Madison County jail charged with murdering inmate
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REXBURG — A grand jury indicted a Madison County Jail inmate for murder after he allegedly beat another inmate to death.
Robert David Pompa, 26, faces the first-degree murder charge for allegedly beating 62-year-old Eddie Blanie Stacey with his fist on Oct. 8 at the Madison County Jail, according to the indictment obtained by EastIdahoNews.com. Little details have been released about the jailhouse killing, which resulted in the Nov. 18 indictment.
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Pompa is scheduled for arraignment on Dec. 6 before District Judge Steven Boyce.
At the time of Stacey’s death, Pompa had been in jail awaiting sentencing on a federal felony charge of possession of a firearm in the furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. While Pompa was in custody in Madison County, court records show he was cited for misdemeanor battery for an incident on July 17. Details of the incident were not publicly available.
Court records show Stacey died while serving a 90-day sentence after pleading guilty on Sept. 7 to misdemeanor DUI and misdemeanor having an open container of alcohol in a vehicle.
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A search of Pompa’s criminal history includes an incident at the Bannock County Jail in June 2020. Court records show he attacked an inmate because the man was a “chow-mo,” a term used in jails and prisons for child molesters. A judge sentenced Pompa to spend between five and 10 years in prison.
Pompa also attacked an elderly inmate around the same time who was facing a federal sex offense charge.
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Unlike the attacks in Bannock County, Stacey was not a sex offender.
On Nov. 19, Pompa received a five-year federal prison sentence for the gun charge. Upon release from federal prison, Federal District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ordered Pompa to spend five years on supervised release.
If convicted of first-degree murder, Pompa could face the death penalty. Prosecutors have not yet indicated if they intend to seek capital punishment.