New Mexico authorities charged a convicted murderer in the prison death of Frank Pauline Jr., who was serving time in the Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility for the 1991 kidnapping, rape and murder of Dana Ireland.

Daniel Thomas Hood, 34, already serving time for first- and second-degree murder, confessed to hitting Pauline in the head with a rock "because he was a snitch and he walked around like he owned the place," the New Mexico Department of Public Safety said in a news release.

Hood was charged Thursday with first-degree murder, a capital felony, and possession of a deadly weapon or explosive by a prisoner.

Pauline’s half brother, John Gonsalves, said, "I still feel it’s a cover-up. If Frank was a snitch, he wouldn’t be walking around like he owned the place. … I still say he was set up and someone put a hit on him."

The April 27 killing came the day after a newspaper reported that the Hawaii Innocence Project and Judges for Justice said they were attempting to exonerate the three convicted in the Ireland case because the DNA evidence did not match the DNA of the three.

Ireland died after being attacked on Christmas Eve in 1991 on Hawaii island.

"A guy doing two life terms suddenly goes off and kills a person the day after he was focused on as highly likely to be innocent according to information being developed by the Innocence Project," said Brook Hart, attorney for the Hawaii Innocence Project.