Inmate is dead after brawl in prison
By Steve Herring
Published in News on July 24, 2014 1:46 PM
Terry Houser
A Wilson County man is expected to be charged by Goldsboro police today with an open count of murder in connection with the death of a fellow inmate at the Neuse Correctional Institution.
A first appearance for Christopher Phillips, 28, could be held either today or Friday.
Phillips is being charged in the death of Terry Houser, 58, of Mecklenburg County.
Goldsboro police Maj. Al King said Phillips and Houser had been involved in a fight on June 30 at the Neuse Correctional Institution.
King said it was his understanding that no weapons were involved.
After the fight, Houser was admitted to the intensive care unit at Wayne Memorial Hospital. He died Wednesday.
Houser had been serving a sentence for driving while license revoked. Phillips was serving a sentence for felony breaking and entering.
King said the Police Department had been contacted on July 7 after an internal investigation had been done at the minimum security prison facility.
"By the time they were through doing their investigation, they had let (Phillips) out of prison," King said.
Police had to contact Phillips' probation and parole officer out of Wilson to find him, King said.
Phillips was initially jailed under a $250,000 bond on a charge of assault inflicting serious bodily injury, he said.
King said he could not comment on a possible motive for the fight since the investigation is ongoing.