MAURY, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) -- A Mecklenburg County man convicted of statuary rape was murdered in state prison this week, state officials confirmed.

The N.C. Department of Adult Corrections says that 60-year-old Ernest Nichols was found unresponsive on the floor of his dormitory at the Greene Correctional Institution -- a minimum-security facility -- the morning of Oct. 5.

Staff performed life-saving procedures and called EMS, which pronounced him deceased at 7:22 a.m.

Nichols was convicted in Mecklenburg County in 2011 of statutory rape. His projected release date was for September 2027.

Wilbert Baldwin was arrested Tuesday and charged with Nichols’ murder. He has been relocated to the state’s highest-security unit at Granville Correctional Institution. He was in prison for second-

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