INMATE'S SENTENCE IS UPHELD 2ND LIFE TERM FOR PRISON ATTACK.

Byline: KAREN MAESHIRO Staff Writer

LANCASTER -- An appeals court has upheld the conviction of a prison inmate who was given a second life sentence -- on top of the one he was already serving for murder -- for assaulting a correctional officer at the prison in Lancaster.

The 2nd District Court of Appeal found no merit in George Jacobs' claims that the November 2004 attack on Jason Frey, a correctional officer at California State Prison-Los Angeles County, lacked premeditation and deliberation. The appellate judges noted that, five months earlier, Frey had sued Jacobs in civil court for a January 2004 attack. They also noted that Jacobs apparently dressed for the November 2004 attack in white and with extra clothing.

A correctional officer had testified that he thought Jacobs was dressed in white as ``a form of camouflage,'' because his cell was painted white, and that it is common for inmates to pad themselves with extra clothing ``when they are going to fight or when they feel they might get hurt,'' the appellate decision states. ``Jacobs padded himself with excess clothing for protection during the planned assault; as soon as the cell door opened, Jacobs ran at Frey and, without saying a word, attacked him.''

Jacobs, 32, was convicted of assault in 2005 and sentenced to 22 years to life in prison -- to begin after completion of his sentence of 30 years to life in a 1993 gun murder in L.A.

The November incident occurred when Frey was escorting an inmate back to a cell shared with Jacobs. Frey looked into the cell and did not see Jacobs, but as the cell door opened, Jacob ran out, wrapped his arm around Frey's neck and punched him in the face, the appellate panel wrote. Other officers pulled Jacobs off Frey.

The appellate panel apparently discounted testimony from Jacobs' cellmate who had said Frey and Jacobs exchanged angry words before the cell door opened in the November 2004 incident, that Frey entered with the baton raised over his head as if going to hit someone, and that Frey and Jacobs started to fight. The cellmate also claimed he saw Frey hit Jacobs with his baton and that he never saw Jacobs put a headlock on Frey.

In January 2004, Frey was working in the prison law library, in charge of lending books to inmates. Frey charged Jacobs for some destroyed books found in his cell. Jacobs and Frey argued, and, two days later, Jacobs somehow freed himself from his handcuffs and hit Frey in the eye, the ruling said.

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