White Supremacist On Death Row Attacks Guard At San Quentin

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A white supremacist gang member on death row at San Quentin State Prison attacked a guard, who was slashed in the hand, corrections officials said.

Todd Givens, 51, tried to cut the neck of a correctional officer who was picking up food trays Thursday morning in a housing unit at San Quentin State Prison, according to a statement from the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Givens used a weapon made from two razor blades and a broken, sharpened piece from nail clippers, the statement said.

"The officer grabbed the weapon with his left hand. As Givens pulled the weapon back, it slashed the officer's hand," the statement said. The guard received five stitches at a hospital.

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The attack was under investigation.

The officer was transferred to the prison north of San Francisco to help staff it in the midst of a massive outbreak of the coronavirus. San Quentin has reported more than 2,000 cases and 12 deaths.

Givens is a member of the Nazi Low Riders prison gang, authorities said.

He and his wife, Lacey Givens, were convicted of killing two people in 1997 in Porterville in Tulare County. Prosecutors said Barry Holstone, 30, of Earlimart, was shot along with his sister, Patreace Holstone, 32, of Porterville. Their bodies were found in a burning car in an olive grove near the Givens home.

Prosecutors said Givens committed the killings because he believed that Barry Holstone had stolen from him.

Givens was sentenced to death and his wife is serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.