The inmate charged in the January throat-slashing death of a fellow prisoner at Avenal State Prison told investigators he committed the crime because noise levels in his general-population cell block were annoying him, and he wanted to be moved to administrative segregation.

Howard Brown, 34, was serving time at Avenal for two counts of residential burglary when he attacked and killed Yuri Spisarczuk, 57, in a prison yard. Brown, who was scheduled for release in June 2009, now faces a 50-year-to-life mandatory sentence under the "Three Strikes and You're Out" law if convicted of the killing.

Patrick Hart, chief deputy district attorney for Kings County, said it doesn't appear that the slaying was gang-related.