During negotiations, the inmates did not feel they were being taken seriously and there was discussion of killing a corrections officer in retaliation. Though the group never reached a decision on the killing, one of the prisoners decided to act. According to the prosecution, Officer Robert Vallandingham, who had been taken hostage, was handcuffed and strangled with a dumbbell from the prison weight room. However, testimony by Dr. Richard Fardal, Franklin County Deputy Coroner, disputed the claim that Officer Vallandingham was killed by a weight, saying that there was "no injury to the voice box or the trachea" and that "Mr. Vallandingham died solely and exclusively as a result of ligature strangulation." Testimonies vary as to which prisoner was responsible for his murder. During those 11 days, representatives from the Gangster Disciples, Black Muslims and Aryan Brotherhood, met every day in an improvised leadership council.