Lucas Matthew Wagnar: West Virginia inmate enters plea for killing 79-year-old cellmate in SRJ

RALEIGH COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA: A Southern Regional Jail prisoner accused of killing his cellmate after initiating a violent and lengthy attack pleaded guilty to the crime during a hearing on Wednesday, February 21 in a Raleigh County courtroom, per Fox News. 

29-year-old Lucas Matthew Wagnar pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the death of 79-year-old Douglas Alan Cunningham, his cellmate, at Southern Regional Jail in October 2022.

What did Lucas Wagnar do? 

As part of the plea agreement, Wagnar was sentenced to 30 years for killing Cunningham. 

Kennedy's plea was entered in Wagnar's favor. A Kennedy plea acknowledges that the prosecution has enough evidence to prosecute the prisoner, but it does not confess guilt.

On October 29, 2022, Cunningham was murdered while incarcerated in Southern Regional Jail in Raleigh County in a solitary cell alongside Wagnar, Isaiah Marshall McBride, and two other prisoners. Unknown to them, Wagnar and McBride attacked Cunningham.

Wagnar and McBride spat on Cunningham during the assault, which Raleigh County Prosecuting Attorney Ben Hatfield described in detail during the hearing.

The manner of death was described as a homicide but however, it stated the cause was a combination of coronary artery disease and the "stress of the acute injuries."

Wagnar also climbed up one of the bunks in the cell and jumped off it to land on Cunningham, breaking several of Cunningham's ribs.

Who was the other accused? 

27-year-old McBride was also charged in Cunningham's death. In September, McBride pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years.

Wagnar was facing allegations that may have led to a life sentence when he was first indicted in June 2023. Hatfield said that in part, the state medical examiner's report on Cunningham's death led him to agree to give Wagnar a plea on less serious charges.

Hatfield claimed that although the report stated that Cunningham's death was a homicide, it "read a little wonky."

With Cunningham's underlying health conditions, Hatfield said the case was not as "clear cut" as murder cases that involve gunshot wounds or stabbings.

"Basically, what the medical examiner said is in a perfectly healthy person, take myself, for instance, the attack wouldn't have led to my death," Hatfield said. "It was Mr Cunningham's underlying health conditions that the attack exacerbated."

Hatfield said he believes he still would have been able to secure a murder conviction had the case gone to trial, but it would have been a complex issue to explain to a jury.

Wagnar's current sentence ranges from one to five years and will run concurrently with his 30-year sentence for second-degree murder.