PLATTSBURGH , N.Y., Nov. 13 (UPI) — David Sweat on Friday pleaded guilty to charges stemming from his June escape from a northern New York state prison which launched a three-week manhunt.
Sweat, 35, admitted guilt to two counts of first-degree escape and one count of first-degree promotion of prison contraband in a Plattsburgh, N.Y., court.
With the help of prison seamstress Joyce Mitchell, who supplied tools for the breakout and is serving a seven-year sentence, Sweat and fellow prison inmate Richard Matt used hacksaw blades to cut their way to freedom from Clinton Correctional Center on June 6. The two men eluded law enforcement until Matt wasshot to death on June 26. Sweat was shot and captured two days later.
Sweat was serving life imprisonment for the murder of a deputy, and has been moved to a super-maximum security prison near Romulus, N.Y.
Sweat was heavily guarded during the short court hearing Friday, and verbally pleaded guilty. He was scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 3.
A maximum of three and one-half years could be added to his life sentence, and Franklin County, N.Y., Acting District Attorney Glenn MacNeill said Sweat may face additional charges for several burglaries at campsites discovered while Matt and Sweat were on the loose.
“With David Sweat or Richard Matt, they have basically the maximum sentence that New York State allows,” Franklin County, N.Y., District Attorney Andrew Wylie said. “We don’t have the death penalty in New York State. What are you going to do with someone who commits this type of crime?”
