SCOTTSVILLE – A man who took part in what authorities described as a “seemingly unprovoked” attack on another inmate at Allen County Detention Center has been indicted on a murder charge after the inmate died.

Robert Lee Tomes, 35, of Scottsville, is to be arraigned April 23 in Allen Circuit Court on charges of murder and first-degree persistent felony offender.

Tomes is accused of causing the death of Levi Parrish, 40, of Scottsville, as the result of a Jan. 17 incident at the jail.

Court records indicate that Tomes had been booked into the jail on Jan. 14 after being arrested on charges of first-degree criminal trespassing and giving an officer false identifying information.

Tomes picked up an additional charge of third-degree assault that day after allegedly punching a deputy jailer while being escorted to a cell.

Tomes and Parrish, who was booked into jail on Jan. 16 on suspicion of driving under the influence, were part of a group of inmates who were brought to the jail’s commissary room on the morning of Jan. 17 to appear in court over Zoom, according to an arrest citation.

Less than a minute after Parrish was pushed into the commissary room while seated in an office chair, Tomes can be seen in surveillance video footage standing up, walking over to Parrish and striking him multiple times in the face, Tomes’ arrest citation said.

“While there is no audio to the video, it does not appear that either inmate spoke during the incident,” Kentucky State Police Detective Graham Rutherford wrote in Tomes’ arrest citation. “Tomes was observed smiling and looking around right before the assault occurred. Inmate Tomes refused to give a statement to KSP regarding this incident.”

Parrish was taken to The Medical Center for treatment of facial injuries, which were so extensive as to prevent him from giving a statement to law enforcement, according to court records.

Parrish died Jan. 26 at the hospital.

Tomes was charged initially with second-degree assault, but that was amended up to murder by the grand jury following Parrish’s death.

The indictment, returned March 27, described Parrish’s death as due to blunt force trauma sustained in an assault, “including an accumulation of blood that formed between the skull and his scalp, injury to his brain caused by external force and a nasal bone fracture.”

Tomes is currently in Simpson County Detention Center.

Allen Circuit Judge Mark Thurmond set Tomes’ bond in the murder case at $1 million cash.