The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has been called in after an inmate was found hanging from a bed sheet in his cell Monday, the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office said.

A deputy was conducting cell checks when inmate Richard James Sheriff, 61, of Canton was discovered, Lt. Jay Baker with the sheriff’s office said in a news release. The deputy removed the sheet and tried to assist Sheriff, who was later pronounced dead at Northside Hospital-Cherokee.

No other inmates were in the cell during the incident, Baker said.

The GBI investigates all deaths of people in custody.

Sheriff was charged with aggravated assault for allegedly stabbing a Canton man Jan. 2.

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Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) with Nathan J. Wade (right), the special prosecutor she hired to manage the Trump case and had a romantic relationship with, at a news conference announcing charges against President-elect Donald Trump and others in Atlanta, Aug. 14, 2023. Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, upheld an appeals court's decision to disqualify Willis from the election interference case against Trump and his allies. (Kenny Holston/New York Times)

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