Inset: Jacob Herman (Nevada Department of Corrections). Background: High Desert State Prison in Indian Springs, Nev., where Jacob Herman was allegedly murdered by his cellmate just days before Herman was scheduled to be released (KTNV/YouTube).
A Las Vegas man serving a 12 to 36 month sentence for larceny was allegedly stabbed and strangled to death by his cellmate — a convicted murderer who slaughtered a mom and her 10-year-old son with a hammer — just days before he was scheduled to be released. His family is now suing the Nevada Department of Corrections for failing to protect him "despite explicit warnings" from the cellmate that he was going to kill the man, the lawsuit says.
"[The cellmate] had threatened to kill him if the two were housed together," the legal complaint filed by Jacob Herman's family alleges.
"Systemic overcrowding, understaffing, and disregard for protective-custody safeguards created the conditions that allowed Mr. Herman's death," the complaint charges. "Defendants were indifferent to the safety and rights of Jacob and did not take these factors and threats seriously even though Jacob's cellmate was a violent offender with a life sentence who had nothing to lose."
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The cellmate, who is identified by the alias "King," is accused of stabbing and strangling Herman in cellblock 4C at High Desert State Prison in Indian Springs. NDOC officials announced Herman's death in a July 17 press release, just one day after the slaying.
"Herman, 35, was serving a sentence of 12 to 36 months for larceny from a person," the release says. "He came to the NDOC on May 20, 2024, from Clark County."
King had been convicted of the "savage sexual assault" of a woman and her 10-year-old child, after which he "bludgeoned them to death with a hammer" and attempted to kill the woman's husband in the same manner, but he survived, according to the complaint. King was serving a life sentence without possibility of parole for the killings, robbery, kidnapping and sexual assault of a minor under 14.
The complaint accuses King of having a documented history of mental illness, including incidents of "running and shouting in the cellblock," and failing to obey corrections officer commands to return to his cell the day of Herman's death. But that didn't stop prison officials from housing Herman, who pleaded guilty to larceny in 2023, with him just days before he was set to be released, his family says.
"Most troubling … Jacob's cellmate King told [corrections officers] when Jacob was assigned to his cell that King did not want Jacob housed with him and was going to kill Jacob if he was put in a cell with him," the complaint alleges. "King had loudly declared to several officers that he would kill Jacob if the defendants house Jacob with him, the defendants nevertheless housed the two inmates in the same cell."
High Desert Prison was understaffed and "had too many inmates" for the facility at the time of Herman's murder, according to the complaint.
This led to inmates in cellblock 4C being given cellmates and why the prison "maintained a dangerous policy of housing inmates about to be released with dangerous inmates serving life sentences," the complaint says. Herman was allegedly supposed to be housed in protective custody.
King murdered Herman at around 2:50 a.m. on July 16 and then told corrections officers what happened, according to the complaint.
"Nevada Department of Corrections and its officers failed to protect Mr. Herman," the complaint says. "Herman's family seeks accountability in the hope that no other family endures such a loss within Nevada's correctional system."
NDOC officials did not respond to Law&Crime's requests for comment Wednesday.
