SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A Salt Lake City man is facing additional criminal charges after he allegedly attacked an inmate last December.

Rueban Sal Roybal, 46, is charged at the Third District Court in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Feb. 22, with attempted murder as a habitual violent offender, a first-degree felony; or aggravated assault with injury by a prisoner and violent habitual offender, a first-degree felony.

According to court documents, deputies were alerted to a cell at the Salt Lake County Metro Jail where Roybal was attacking another inmate on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2022. Roybal was allegedly holding a metal cane tightly to the inmate’s throat. A deputy tried to pry the cane from the inmate’s throat, but Roybal was reportedly “using all of his strength” to keep the cane where it was.

Court documents show that when the deputy finally ripped the cane away from Roybal, the man immediately grabbed the inmate in a chokehold. Several deputies had to pry Roybal’s arms away from the inmate, officials say.

Later on, the inmate allegedly told deputies that Roybal came into his cell and asked him if he wanted to be his cellmate, to which he answered no. Roybal left and began wrapping a towel on each of his hands, looking as if “he was going to choke somebody,” according to charging documents.

The inmate then reportedly went to sleep and woke up with Roybal kneeling on top of him. Court documents pointed out the inmate coughed and spit up blood after the incident. Deputies reported the victim sustained bruising on his ribcage and neck area.

Roybal was arrested in February 2019 for attempted murder after police said he stabbed a woman multiple times and then dragged her by her hair with his vehicle.

He was charged with first-degree attempted murder, first-degree aggravated kidnapping, third-degree aggravated assault and third-degree possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted weapon.

The jury found him guilty of all four charges in December 2022. He was sentenced to at least 16 years to life in prison at the Utah State Prison.