Suspect in Deaths of 6 in Area Slashed Hand of Fellow Prisoner, Deputies Say

A Michigan drifter, accused of stabbing to death six Los Angeles-area transients, slashed an inmate’s hand with a safety razor in Los Angeles County Jail over the weekend, sheriff’s deputies alleged.

Joseph Danks was walking outside his cell during his exercise period Sunday afternoon and apparently got into an argument with inmate Robert Harris Ormsbee, who was in a cell, deputies said.

The two argued about a magazine, and Danks reached out and slashed Ormsbee’s right hand, which was resting on a bar of the cell, deputies said. Ormsbee, who has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the slayings of three homosexual prostitutes, was treated at County-USC Medical Center for a minor cut.

Under County Jail rules, inmates are allowed to have plastic safety razors. The use of razors is sometimes restricted if the inmate has psychiatric problems or poses a special danger. Danks had no such restrictions, deputies said.

“There is always a possibility of danger in any item. A spoon could be dangerous in the hands of a wrong person,” said Sgt. Bryan Williams, adding that the courts have mandated that inmates be provided with personal care items such as a toothbrush, comb, razor and shaving cream. He said it is not uncommon for inmates to carry their possessions with them as they move around the jail so other inmates won’t steal them.

On Tuesday, Danks pleaded not guilty to two murder charges at his arraignment in Los Angeles Superior Court. Earlier this year he pleaded not guilty to the knife murders of four other transients in Koreatown and Santa Monica.

Prosecutors said Danks made incriminating statements at the time of his arrest, including saying that he committed one of the murders because he was upset at being turned away from a homeless shelter that was filled to capacity.

Ormsbee was part of what prosecutors called a “mini-Manson” family accused of killing three male prostitutes. He is awaiting sentencing.