DeRidder man was serving life for killing nephew

<p class="p1">A DeRidder man serving a life sentence for the death of his 4-year-old nephew was one of two inmates found dead in Angola State Prison on Wednesday, authorities said.</p><p class="p3">State Department of Corrections officials said John W. Hatfield III, 31, and Kenneth LaCoste, 42, were found dead a couple of hours apart Wednesday night.</p><p class="p3">The men lived on the same tier of a maximum-security unit in the prison, DOC spokeswoman Natalie LaBorde said. </p><p class="p3">A search of the unit turned up synthetic marijuana and amphetamines, along with a cellphone and a pocket knife, LaBorde said.</p><p class="p3">Hatfield was sentenced in 2016 to a life sentence after a jury unanimously found him guilty of second-degree murder in the 2012 death of Tanner Bailey.</p><p class="p3">He had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Hatfield, previously diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, claimed that voices in his head combined with a misinterpretation of Scripture led him to stab the child in the chest as he slept on a couch.</p><p><span>Louisiana State Penitentiary, Angola, i<span>n West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana.</span></span></p>(Special to the American Press)