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Incarcerated man from Desert Hot Springs allegedly killed fellow inmate

City news service
| Desert sun of Palm Springs

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A Desert Hot Springs man serving a 17-year to life sentence for attempting to kill his father by brutally beating him and setting his mobile home on fire is being investigated today for allegedly killing a fellow inmate at Salinas Valley State Prison.

According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Miguel A. Espino, 31, allegedly attacked another inmate at the Soledad Jail in Monterey County around 10:30 a.m. on Monday.

The prison officers “quickly stopped” the attack and “seized a weapon made by an inmate at the scene,” the authority said. The target of the attack, 38-year-old Michael Spengler, was pronounced dead at 11:08 a.m. on Monday.

Espino was found guilty by a Banning jury in November of attempted murder, arson, aggravated assault and criminal weapons charges in the Aug. 7, 2018, attack on his father, Arturo Espino Sr., in his mobile home in the 15-600 block of Palm Drive in Desert Hot Springs.

Prosecutors said Espino, who had a history of violent confrontations with his father, attacked Arturo Espino Sr. with a hammer, hitting him on the head and causing serious injuries. When the father fell to the ground unconscious, Miguel Espino grabbed a pile of clothes and set them on fire in the hallway with flammable liquids.

Neighbors noticed the smoke and rushed into the burning building, put out the fire with a fire extinguisher and called 911. The elder Espino survived and his son was arrested the next day.

According to the CDCR, Espino was placed in a correctional facility following Monday's fatal attack pending the completion of an investigation by the SVSP Investigative Division and the Monterey County District Attorney's Office.

Spengler was sentenced in 2022 in Los Angeles County to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murders of 32-year-old Michael Meza of Pomona on Jan. 9, 2013, and 26-year-old Marcus Nieto of Azusa on Feb. 16, 2013.

“Both murders appear to have been surprise attacks on friends of the defendant,” said Supreme Court Justice Henry J. Hall during the sentencing hearing. “They appear to have been largely senseless.”

The judge said that in his opinion Spengler “should never be released from prison” and was convinced that the defendant was an “extremely dangerous man”.

Meza, who had been shot eight times, was found shot to death in a white Dodge Charger on the shoulder of the White Avenue exit of the eastbound San Bernardino (10) Freeway in Pomona.

Nieto suffered blunt trauma to the head and was found by a passerby on a trail in the 3800 block of Canon Boulevard in Altadena.

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