09 November 2018 :

A Jones County jury ordered the death penalty for Dillion Compton. Compton, 24, Black, was convicted of capital murder Oct. 15 in the July 2016 slaying of a female corrections officer, Mari Johnson. Johnson was found dead in an area of the kitchen at the French Robertson Unit in Abilene on July 16, 2016. She was found handcuffed to the floor. She had been badly beaten and her throat had been crushed, according to trial testimony. The killing occurred while Compton was serving a 25-year sentence for raping a 10-year-old girl in 2010. Prosecutors say Johnson suffered blunt force trauma and a crushed throat. Compton was found with scratches on his face and his skin underneath Johnson's fingernails. Compton's defense attorney said Compton and Johnson had a sexual relationship.