A prisoner from Alabama who managed to elude capture with the aid of a sheriff's deputy and led law enforcement on an 11-day manhunt that ended with the official's death accepted a plea offer on Thursday, according to his attorney.
Casey White pleaded guilty to escape rather than murder in connection with the death of the officer who assisted him, Vicky White.
"Things happened really fast today, unexpectedly," Casey White's attorney, Robert Tuten, told reporters after the hearing, according to video from NBC affiliate WAFF of Huntsville.
BREAKING: Alabama inmate #CaseyWhite pleaded guilty to escaping jail with ex-correctional officer #VickyWhite. The inmate’s plea deal includes dropping the murder charges for Vicky White’s death. He will now spend the rest of his life in prison. pic.twitter.com/lffB92BIKP
— Law&Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) May 4, 2023
White admitted to escaping, according to Tuten, and will receive a later punishment.
Chris Connolly, the district attorney for Lauderdale Country, did not respond to a request for comment right away.
Connolly, according to WAFF, claimed that White had consented to a life sentence with the chance of parole.
On Apr. 29, 2022, the breakout led to a massive manhunt and protracted media attention, NBC News reported.
Vicky White, who was at the time the assistant director of prisons at the Lauderdale County Jail in Florence, is accused of aiding White's escape by pretending to be escorting him to a mental health evaluation.
The sheriff at the time referred to Vicky White as the escape's mastermind, and according to authorities, they dated for two years. Vicky White is not related to Casey White.
On May 9, 2022, police located the pair in Indiana. Vicky White died during a police pursuit in which the car she and the escapee were traveling in was destroyed. According to the coroner, she killed herself by shooting herself.
In July, Casey White was charged with murder on the grounds that he allegedly killed her while attempting a first-degree escape.
He is already serving a 75-year sentence that was handed down in 2019.
Additionally, he is accused of capital murder in the stabbing death of Connie Ridgeway in her home in 2015.
When White and Vicky White helped each other escape from the Lauderdale County Jail, they were both awaiting trial in the Ridgeway case.
Additionally, he is facing federal charges in Indiana for the escape. Police claimed to have discovered multiple weapons after the chase.
He was accused of having a firearm in his possession as a felon and a fugitive, according to the U.S. attorney's office for Southern Indiana at the time.
According to online court records, that case is still open. The accusations originate from White reportedly having five firearms, including an AR-15 rifle, while he was on the run last year.
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