April 11, 2001
(STARKE, Fla.) – A fifth prison guard has been charged with connection with the death of an inmate on Florida’s death row.
Authorities say that Dewey Marce Beck of Gainesville failed to get medical attention for Frank Valdes, failed to report that Valdes had been assaulted and lied on a deposition. Beck is charged with official misconduct and manslaughter by negligence.
Four corrections officers who allegedly beat Valdes so badly that 22 of his ribs were broken are awaiting trial on second-degree murder charges.
Valdes was sentenced to death for killing a corrections officer in Palm Beach County in 1987. At the time of his own death two years ago, he was housed in a unit for hard-to-manage prisoners.