Inmate accused in beating death

Pete Van Winkle, 26, is accused of beating 28-year-old Robert Leroy Cotton to the point of unconsciousness and was about to toss Cotton over a second-floor railing at the jail Thursday night when detention officers intervened.

County Sheriff’s Department officials said Van Winkle’s assault on Cotton took place in a secluded section of a cell where cameras couldn’t capture the totality of the beating.

At the time of the beating, which lasted for about 15 minutes, authorities said two officers in the unit were checking another area and a guard in the unit’s tower was monitoring activity on video monitors but the monitors didn’t show what was going on in Van Winkle’s cell.

Van Winkle had been released from prison and re-arrested by Phoenix police on Feb. 29 and booked on attempted second-degree murder and misconduct involving weapons.

Sheriff’s officials said Cotton had served time in prison in 2002 and 2004 and was booked into jail most recently by Mesa police about a year ago.