DARE COUNTY, N.C. (WAVY) — Eye witnesses inside the Pasquotank prison highlighted day two of testimony in Mikel Brady’s murder trial.
Brady is accused of trying to escape from the Pasquotank Correctional Institution and killing four employees.
“It was like a war zone,” Pasquotank Correctional officer Justin Krzemionka testified.
That’s how witnesses described the scene inside the prison on October 12, 2017.
“He was a bloody mess,” former correctional officer Scott Stormer added about one of his colleagues. “I saw inmates hitting, punching and stabbing him. One had a hammer.”
Several witnesses told the jury it was Brady swinging the hammer.
“He went as far back as he would swing without hitting the other inmates or hitting himself,” Stormer said.
“When I opened the door I saw inmate Brady with a claw hammer striking officer Midgett in the head,” said former maintenance man Dwayne Miller. “He had Mr. Midgett’s one arm pinned down and he was swinging the hammer like he was trying to bust a cinder block.”
Witnesses say that’s when Brady and the others made a run for it. They made their way over and through wire fences and at one point confronted by Stormer.
“They said you are going to have to kill us,” Stormer added.
Stormer was stabbed three times in the back, but didn’t realize it until later.
The inmates continued to run until help arrived.
“At that time I got out of my truck, pointed my shotgun at Brady,” Krzemionka said. “I told him to stand down. It ain’t worth it.”
The inmates gave up, but the damage was done.
“It was something you don’t want to see,” Miller added. “[The employees] were messed up.”
Brady is the first of the four inmates to be on trial. If convicted, he could get the death penalty.
