Inmate Appears in Court

An inmate is in court. He’s accused of killing a correctional officer in Crowley County.

The judge waived the advisement of a first-degree murder charge Tuesday.

Miguel Contreras-Perez is accused of stabbing Sgt. Mary Ricard at Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility last September. It happened in the kitchen. Lower-risk inmates were helping to prepare breakfast when authorities say Contreras-Perez stabbed and killed Ricard and critically injured another officer.

Contreras-Perez is serving a 35-year to life sentence for crimes of kidnapping and sexual assault witha deadly weapon. Those crimes occurred in El Paso County.

Members of the victim’s family were in the courtroom Tuesday, but they did not want to speak on camera.