DELAND -- A grand jury returned a first-degree murder charge Thursday against a man accused of killing corrections officer Donna Fitzgerald inside the Tomoka State Correctional Facility.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Enoch Hall. They said at the time of the attack, Hall had been serving two life sentences for kidnap and rape in the early 1990s in Escambia County.
According to authorities, on the night of June 25, Hall was missing and Fitzgerald went to look for him. Hall stabbed Fitzgerald several times with a makeshift sheet metal knife.
Prosecutors are not commenting on any possible rape in the incident.
Fitzgerald's funeral was held Wednesday in Volusia County and was attended by law enforcement and other officials from around the state.
Prosecutors said because of the heinous manner of the attack and the fact it involved a corrections officer, they are seeking the death penalty to make an example of Hall.
"We're expediting this case through the system because it is a correctional officer that was a victim. We want to make certain that the inmates of the state of Florida understand that if they harm a corrections officer, if they kill a corrections officer, justice will not only be swift, but sure," said John Tanner, the state attorney in Volusia County.
Prosecutors hope to start Hall's trial sometime in the next six months.
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