In United States v. Sammy Stone, Attorney General Holder had authorized the government to seek the death penalty in 2012 on Stone's charge of murdering his cellmate at USP Atwater in 2003. Recently, the defense convinced Holder to deauthorize the case after further information came to light and Stone agreed to a life sentence. He pled guilty in Fresno federal court on January 13, 2014. Stone was represented by defense attorneys Don Knight and AFDs Lexi Negin and Tivon Schardl.