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Death Sentence Possible in Prison Murder Case

By John Nixon

06/09/2017

(KLZA)-- A Tecumseh prison inmate accused of killing his cellmate could face the death penalty if convicted.

According to a release from the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office, the state has filed a Notice of Aggravating Circumstances, alleging Patrick Schroeder was previously convicted of another murder or crime involving the use or threat of violence to the person, or has a substantial prior history of serious assaultive or terrorizing criminal activity.

Schroeder has been charged with first degree murder and use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony in the death of 22-year-old Terry Berry. Schroeder and Berry were cellmates at the prison north of Tecumseh on April 15 when Corrections personnel were alerted to respond to the cell.

An autopsy ruled the cause of death was asphyxia, and labeled the death as a homicide.

In filing the Notice of Aggravating Circumstances, Schroeder is eligible for the death penalty sentence. Schroeder is scheduled to appear in Johnson County District Court on June 20, at 2:30 p.m.

Schroeder is currently serving life in prison for the April, 2006 robbery and murder of Kenneth Albers who lived on f farmstead just outside of Pawnee City.

In 2009, Schroeder was sentenced to more than nine years in prison for the January 2006 robbery of the State Bank of Steinauer. The federal sentence is being served consecutively to the murder sentence.

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