Inmate fatally beaten with TV, report says
A North Las Vegas killer suspected of fatally beating his prison cellmate with a television had refused to take schizophrenia medication before the attack, according to a report released Wednesday.
When corrections officers found Darius Sorrells sitting on the top bunk of his cell on Sept. 28 at High Desert State Prison, he said he “did not know what happened and (his cellmate) was being stupid.”
An arrest report from the Office of the Inspector General said 70-year-old Mitchell Harris was found unconscious on the ground. He was pronounced dead six hours later.
Sorrells had cuts on his hand, and while he was taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center he told corrections officers, “I didn’t do what got me in here originally,” according to the inspector general’s report.
Sorrells, 39 was sent to prison in 2019 for killing his sister and mother. Harris was serving a life sentence for stabbing his ex-wife to death with an ice pick in 1989.
Sorrells told detectives he did not know what happened to Harris. Investigators wrote in the arrest report that Sorrells had been prescribed a medication for schizophrenia.
“However, the records also show Sorrells was not consistent with the medication or consistent with his assessments by refusing the medication or mental health visits from staff,” the inspector general’s office wrote.
Authorities said the 13-inch television was the only sharp object in the room that could have caused Harris’ death from blunt force injuries.
A warrant for Sorrells’ arrest in the murder case was issued last week, but the attorney general and inspector general’s office declined to say why it took 11 months to issue a warrant for Sorrells’ arrest in the killing.
In an interview last week, Harris’ granddaughter said her family had written to the governor, the attorney general and the Nevada Department of Corrections seeking information on Harris’ death.
Sorrells is scheduled for a hearing Sept. 21, and he remained at High Desert State Prison, according to court records.
Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on X.