Inmate pleads guilty to third-degree murder in cellmate’s fatal beating at SCI Phoenix in Montco

A Northeast Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty Wednesday to beating his cellmate to death at the State Correctional Institution at Phoenix.

Nathan Blose, 42, was sentenced to eight to 16 years after entering a plea to third-degree murder in the death of Shaun Harden.

Harden, 45, was found dead on November 1, 2024 inside the cell he and Blose shared at SCI Phoenix in Skippack. He had hemorrhages on his neck, chest, and back and died of multiple injuries.

Blose, of Coaldale, Carbon County, and Harden were the only two people who entered the cell in the 24 hours before Harden’s killing.

The sentence handed down Wednesday by Montgomery County Court Judge Thomas DelRicci included a concurrent term of six to 12 months that Blose received after a jury found him guilty of simple assault for attacking his previous cellmate, Jason Joyce, two days before the slaying.

Blose’s attorney, Joseph Schultz, said afterward that he was satisfied with the resolution of the case.

“He expressed he was ready to accept responsibility, and we were able to work out a plea agreement in a way that’s fair all around,” Schultz said.

Wednesday’s hearing ended a monthslong legal saga. In January, Blose’s trial in Harden’s death ended in a mistrial after more than 700 pages of Harden’s medical records were belatedly turned over to his attorneys.

Prosecutors said they had only learned that day that an expert they planned to call had obtained the records and used them to rule on the cause and manner of Harden’s death.

Schultz moved to dismiss the case on the grounds of double-jeopardy, a motion that DelRicci denied.

Then, during a status hearing last week, Blose unexpectedly admitted to killing Harden, saying he did so as a service to the community because Harden was “a pedophile.”

The Nemacolin, Greene County native was serving a four- to eight-year sentence in state prison after a 2015 conviction for indecent aggravated assault of a child, corruption of minors, and related crimes for molesting an 11-year-old girl and two preteen boys.

He had been transferred to the Skippack prison hours before his death from SCI Fayette in western Pennsylvania, where he had been seriously injured by his cellmate and was treated for brain bleeding, fractured ribs, and a collapsed lung.

Still, forensic experts determined that those earlier injuries did not lead to his death, which they said was caused by the new injuries inflicted by Blose, according to court filings.

Assistant District Attorney Gabriella Glenning described Blose’s attack on Harden as egregious, noting that the law is designed to also protect “those who are behind bars serving sentences.”

“Despite what the gentleman he killed was in jail for, at the end of the day, he was still a person,” Glenning said. “He is still someone who was a son, a brother, an uncle, a dad, and you could hear from the family that this has left a hole in their heart, and they will forever miss him.”

Harden’s relatives, in tearful statements, called Blose a monster during Wednesday’s hearing, and denounced him for taking Harden away from his daughter.

“What you’ve done is unbelievable and hurtful,” Harden’s sister Melissa Campbell said. “I wish you could be there with him, so your family could feel the pain we do every day.”