Autopsy shows Wasco inmate was beaten to death

A Wasco State Prison inmate found dead in his cell earlier this week was beaten to death, according to a report from the Kern County coroner's office released Wednesday.

Prison officials have said the suspect in the killing of Michael Thomas Graham is his cellmate, Joseph Hyungmin Son, 40, a former part-time actor who had a role in the 1997 film "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery." Son also had a brief career as a mixed martial arts fighter.

Thomas, 50, of San Louis Obispo County was sent to the prison's reception center in June, after he was convicted of failing to register as a sex offender and sentenced to two years in prison.

Son was convicted in August of torture for his part in the 1990 rape of a woman in Huntington Beach. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and sent to the prison's reception center in September.

Graham was found dead in his cell Monday afternoon, prison officials said.

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 -- Sam Quinones

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Photo: Joseph Hyungmin Son. Credit: California Department of Corrections