Inmate sentenced in violent attack on southern New Mexico prison guards

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- One of six inmates involved in a July 2019 attack of two officers at the Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility has been sentenced.

The Dona Ana County District Attorney's Office says Robert Dyment will have eight and a half years added to his existing sentence.

Authorities said the attack happened when a prison nurse, escorted by a sergeant and another officer, entered a pod to give medicine to inmates.

Dyment and five other inmates ambushed the sergeant and officer, leaving them badly beaten. Video showed the officers were forced into a small corridor where they were punched, kicked and beaten.

The other inmates involved in the attack will be in court next year to learn their fates.