Johnathan Griffin, 19, is charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of his cellmate at 201 Poplar.

A murder charge filed inside a jail is still only a charge. Action News 5 reported that Griffin asked for his lawyer when detectives tried to question him, and that jail staff said he told them he flushed the weapon. No weapon was recovered. A statement relayed secondhand by jail staff is exactly the kind of evidence a defense lawyer takes apart line by line. The question the county has to answer is how a weapon got into that cell at all.

Action News 5 reported that Shelby County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Jerrita Patterson said an inmate was stabbed to death around 9 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, at the Shelby County Jail, known as 201 Poplar. The man who died was identified as Erick Jones, 23. Patterson said a first-degree murder charge had been filed against his cellmate, Johnathan Griffin, 19. Action News 5 reported correctional officers responded to a disturbance in a jail pod at 8:55 a.m. and found Jones with a wound to the left side of his neck, and that he was pronounced dead at Regional One Hospital at 9:26 a.m. The Commercial Appeal reported deputies responded to the disturbance around 9:19 a.m. in a third-floor pod. The two outlets give different response times. FOX13 Memphis reported Griffin was moved to a separation unit at the Main Jail.

According to the affidavit described by Action News 5, detectives saw blood spatter on Griffin's face, clothing, and left hand, and he told them he was not injured. Detectives tried to speak with him, but he asked for his lawyer to be present. Jail staff said Griffin stated he flushed the weapon before he was detained, and no weapon was recovered from the scene, the station reported. The Commercial Appeal reported Patterson said at the press conference that charges had not yet been formally filed, but that a judicial officer had signed a warrant for his arrest.

The Commercial Appeal reported Griffin was already in jail on two counts of first-degree murder, which it verified through the Shelby County criminal justice portal, along with theft and domestic violence charges. Two of his active cases are criminal court bindover cases that began in Shelby County Juvenile Court, the paper reported, and the murder charges list an offense date in December 2024, when Griffin was 17. Action News 5 reported he is accused of killing two people in Hickory Hill in 2024 and was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday morning for a report date. Those earlier counts are accusations too. He has not been convicted in that case.

The Commercial Appeal reported this is the second in-custody death since Sheriff Anthony Buckner took office. In September, Beverly Turnage, 43, was found unresponsive in her cell at Jail East. "Regardless of the circumstances when it comes to how someone died, this is a sad day," Patterson said, according to the paper. The sheriff's office has not said what led to the stabbing. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.