Man beaten in Tehama County Jail

Sheriff's detectives have identified a murder suspect and another man charged with attempted murder as being involved in an assault on a fellow inmate at the Tehama County Jail.

Dylan Shires, 18, of Gerber, and Michael Rene Martinez, 35, of Red Bluff, were charged Monday with the attempted murder of Thomas A. Martin, who sustained life-threatening head injuries when he was assaulted in an common-room of the jail while serving a 270-day sentence for drug charges, the Tehama County Sheriff's Office reported.

At the time of the attack, Shires was being held on $1.5 million bail while awaiting trial for the murder of Clarence Puckett, who was shot to death in his Los Molinos home on Jan. 27.

Martinez, incarcerated on $1.05 million, is charged with the Sept. 26, 2008 attempted murder of Timothy Martin of Corning.

Each suspect is being held on an additional $1 million bail for the jailhouse attack, the sheriff's office said.

According to detectives, Tehama County Jail correctional officers were told that several inmates in the 50-man cellblock had participated in the planned attack on Martin, who has been transported from St. Elizabeth Community Hospital to the critical care unit at a Redding hospital.

As the investigation continues detectives are attempting to identify additional suspects.