1st murder trial set in fatal North Carolina prison attack

RALEIGH, N.C. – A North Carolina inmate now knows when he’ll face a death-penalty trial after the state’s deadliest attempted prison breakout.

District Attorney Andrew Womble said Friday a judge set Oct. 7 for 29-year-old Mikel Brady’s trial on murder charges. He would be the first of four inmates from Pasquotank Correctional Institution to be tried.

They’re accused of using hammers and scissors from a prison workshop to kill four employees on Oct. 12, 2017. Eight other prison employees were injured.

Brady was already serving time for attempted murder after shooting a North Carolina state trooper who pulled him over in Durham in 2013. He was a fugitive from Vermont on a probation violation when he shot the trooper at close range in the face, hands and right shoulder.