Clayton Fountain was a federal prisoner whose adult life is documented almost entirely through custody and the courts. Before the early 1980s he was a military prisoner of the U.S. Navy serving a sentence of life imprisonment for murder. Moved into the federal prison system, he was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the death of another inmate, convicted of murder in the death of an inmate at the federal penitentiary in Marion, Illinois, and convicted of first-degree murder in the death of a correctional officer there on October 22, 1983. He died in federal custody on July 12, 2004.
His date and place of birth are not on record, and neither are the facts of the military murder case that first put him in prison.
At the time of the 1983 killing Fountain was a U.S. Navy military prisoner serving life for murder; whether one life sentence or two is not settled, and the dates, victims and place of the military case are not on record.
By the time of the October 1983 events Fountain and his fellow inmate Thomas Silverstein had each killed three people. For Fountain, one of those killings had produced only a conviction of voluntary manslaughter.
Fountain and another inmate, Hugh Thomas Colomb, were tried together over the death of a third prisoner in a U.S. prison. A jury convicted both of voluntary manslaughter and of a contraband offense within the prison. They appealed on several grounds, among them the admission of their prior convictions, the sufficiency of the evidence, double jeopardy and the refusal of an instruction on self-defense. The Seventh Circuit decided the appeal on March 5, 1981, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case on May 18, 1981. The name of the dead man, the name of the prison, the date of the death and the sentences are not on record.
Robert Marvin Chappelle was an inmate at the federal penitentiary in Marion, Illinois, who died on November 22, 1981. The killing was linked at trial to members of two prison gangs, the Aryan Brotherhood and the Mexican Mafia, which were allied at the time. Silverstein was a member of the Aryan Brotherhood's three-man commission, Fountain was an associate of the group, and a man named Edgar Hevle was another commission member.
The jury convicted Fountain and Silverstein of murder, and each received a sentence of life imprisonment. Silverstein, Hevle and a fourth defendant, Adolph Reynosa, were also convicted of conspiracy to murder: Silverstein received 20 years on that count, and Hevle and Reynosa 40 years each. All of the new sentences were ordered to run consecutively to the sentences the men were already serving. Fountain was not among those convicted of conspiracy. The date of the trial and the trial court are not on record.
The four men appealed, and on April 26, 1984, the Seventh Circuit, in an opinion by Judge Richard Posner, affirmed the convictions. The opinion was amended on the denial of rehearing on July 26, 1984.
On the morning of October 22, 1983, Senior Officer Specialist Merle E. Clutts, a 51-year-old officer with a nineteen-year career, was killed at Marion. Silverstein received a life sentence for that murder. A third inmate, Randy K. Gometz, was tried with him on a charge of aiding and abetting; like Silverstein he was at first sentenced to 50 to 150 years.
That evening Senior Officer Specialist Robert L. Hoffmann was killed at the same penitentiary. Fountain was convicted of his murder.
A jury convicted Fountain of first-degree murder, together with lesser offenses. The trial judge sentenced him to not less than 50 and not more than 150 years in prison. He was also ordered to pay restitution. The date of the trial is not on record.
Fountain, Silverstein and Gometz appealed together. The issues included the conduct of the trial, a defendant's last-minute request for a psychiatrist, the use of prior murder convictions to question Silverstein, the sufficiency of the evidence against Gometz, and the sentences. The appeals were argued on February 15, 1985, and decided on July 8, 1985. The panel, Judges Harlington Wood Jr., Richard Posner and Walter Swygert, affirmed the convictions, vacated the sentences and sent the cases back for the entry of life sentences, because federal law allows no term of years for first-degree murder. Restitution was to be recalculated within a time limit. Judge Swygert concurred in part and dissented in part; he would have reversed the convictions of Fountain and Silverstein and ordered new trials.
On November 22, 1985, the court denied rehearing and amended one passage of its opinion on parole eligibility, stating that the only punishment for federal murder is life in prison. Fountain received an additional life sentence for Hoffmann's murder.
Fountain and Silverstein were held in different federal prisons. Fountain died in federal custody on July 12, 2004. The cause of death is not on record.
Whether Fountain was serving one earlier life sentence or two is not settled. The identities of the dead in the military case and in the voluntary manslaughter case, and the dates and places of both, are not on record.
Before 1981: Fountain, a Navy military prisoner, is serving a life sentence for murder. Date and details of the case are not on record.
Before March 5, 1981: convicted of voluntary manslaughter and a contraband offense within a prison; the Seventh Circuit decides the appeal on March 5, 1981, and the Supreme Court declines review on May 18, 1981.
November 22, 1981: inmate Robert Marvin Chappelle dies at the federal penitentiary in Marion, Illinois.
Before April 26, 1984: Fountain and Silverstein are convicted of murder in the Chappelle case, each sentenced to life, consecutive to existing sentences; the Seventh Circuit affirms on April 26, 1984 (amended July 26, 1984).
October 22, 1983: Officers Merle E. Clutts and Robert L. Hoffmann are killed at Marion.
Before July 8, 1985: Fountain is convicted of first-degree murder in Hoffmann's death and sentenced to 50 to 150 years.
July 8, 1985: the Seventh Circuit affirms the convictions and orders life sentences.
November 22, 1985: rehearing denied.
July 12, 2004: Fountain dies in federal custody.