7 charged in beating death of fellow New Mexico jail inmate

LAS VEGAS, N.M. (AP) — Authorities say seven inmates in a northern New Mexico jail are charged with first-degree murder and other crimes in the beating death of a fellow inmate regarded by other prisoners as a dangerous bully. The seven were charged Monday in the Nov. 1 killing of 40-year-old Eric Vigil, who was beaten in a cell in the San Miguel County Detention Center. Arrest affidavits said the staff discovered the gruesomely battered and unresponsive Vigil facedown on the floor after another inmate reported that an inmate had slipped and fallen. The affidavits said Vigil and other inmates had entered a cell where the beating lasted just 62 seconds.