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Prosecutors: Fight Over Remote Ignites Fatal Prison Stomping

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -- Prosecutors say a feud over a TV remote control led to a "fatal stomp-down" that killed a 64-year-old inmate at a Colorado Springs prison.

The Gazette reports Danny Lee Gonzalez is charged with second-degree murder in a Nov. 19, 2017, attack on Daniel Pena. Both men were awaiting parole at the Cheyenne Mountain Re-entry Center.

Prosecutor Grant Libby, during opening statements Wednesday, said Gonzalez knocked down Pena and repeatedly stomped on his head as five of Gonzalez's friends stood guard.

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(credit: Andy Cross/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

Gonzalez's attorneys say he's being blamed for defending himself after Pena took a swing at him. Public defender Kim Chalmers says Gonzalez didn't stomp on Pena, attributing the claim to inmates exaggerating.

Pena lost consciousness less than a half-hour later and was found slumped over in a bathroom. He was pronounced dead a week later at a hospital.

(© Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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