Inmate Charged with Murder in Death of Frank Pauline Jr.

New Mexico State Police have charged an inmate at the Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico with first degree murder in the death of Frank Pauline Jr.

Pauline was serving a life sentence for the rape and murder of Dana Ireland in Puna in 1991.

Fellow inmate Daniel Hood confessed to the murder, telling investigators that “tension with Mr. Pauline had been building for a few months.” According to a statement released by New Mexico State Police, Hood killed Pauline because “he thought Pauline was a snitch and he walked around like he owned the place.”

Hood has also been charged with possession of a deadly weapon by a prisoner.

On April 27, Pauline was found murdered in a remote location of the recreation yard at the New Mexico correctional facility.  His case had recently been taken up by the Hawai`i Innocence Project who believed Pauline, as well as the two men sentenced with him, were wrongly convicted.