A judge says he saw no remorse from a man convicted in the deaths of a female prison guard and another inmate.

By Associated Press
Published April 2, 2006

PUNTA GORDA - A former professional boxer serving life for killing a man outside a Pinellas Park bar was sentenced Friday to death in the slayings of a corrections officer and another inmate during a failed escape.

Circuit Judge William Blackwell said Dwight T. Eaglin never expressed remorse before handing down the death sentence.

Eaglin was convicted in February of the murders of corrections officer Darla Kay Lathrem and prison inmate Charles Fuston. A jury later recommended death.

Eaglin smiled as he entered the courtroom and was smiling as he left. "The attitude borderlined on arrogance," Blackwell said.

Eaglin was one of three prisoners who attacked Lathrem, beat her and stuffed her body into a mop closet during a botched escape from the Charlotte Correctional Institution in June 2003. Fuston died several days later from injuries suffered in the attack.

Lathrem was on duty alone, armed only with pepper spray and a radio. She was the first female prison officer killed in Florida.

In the late 1990s, Eaglin was known as the Fighting Irishman, someone with a promising future in professional sports.

But in 1998, at age 22, he was charged with the murder of John Frederick Nichols, whose body was found behind a bar.

Detectives concluded that Nichols stumbled on Eaglin trying to remove a stereo from a Geo Tracker that he had stolen from another lounge. [Last modified April 2, 2006, 01:23:12]

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Posted on Sun, Apr. 02, 2006

Death sentence for guard's slayer

PUNTA GORDA - (AP) -- A convicted murderer was sentenced to death for the slayings of a female prison guard and another inmate during a failed escape attempt.

Before issuing the death sentence Friday, Circuit Judge William Blackwell said Dwight T. Eaglin never expressed remorse.

Eaglin was convicted in February of the murders of corrections officer Darla Kay Lathrem and inmate Charles Fuston. A jury later recommended death.

Eaglin smiled as he entered the courtroom, and was smiling as he left.

''The attitude borderlined on arrogance,'' Blackwell said.

Eaglin was one of three prisoners who attacked Lathrem, beat her to death and stuffed her body into a locked mop closet during a botched escape from the Charlotte Correctional Institution in June 2003. Fuston died several days later from injuries sustained in the attack.

Lathrem was on duty alone, armed only with pepper spray and a radio. She was the first female prison officer ever killed in Florida.

Eaglin was already serving a life sentence for stabbing a man to death in 1998 outside a Pinellas County bar.

During a presentence investigation, Eaglin's foster father discussed Eaglin's abusive and childhood. Eaglin was later removed from his father's home and was sent to live with a foster family in Illinois. His father is now in prison in Illinois.

The defense said during trial that the prison system failed to keep Eaglin under control and should share blame for the murders.

A 2004 Florida Department of Corrections investigation revealed instances of prison officials failing to adhere to basic safety procedures and policies.

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