CLINTON COUNTY, N.Y., Aug. 20 (UPI) — Convicted murderer David Sweat, who broke out of a New York Prison for 22 days, was arraigned Thursday on charges of escape and promoting contraband.
Sweat, 35, pleaded not guilty to three felonies. He appeared in court wearing a green prison jumpsuit with his arm in a sling. He will be held without bail, but he is already serving a life sentence for shooting a sheriff’s deputy in 2002.
His next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 29.
Sweat was captured when he was shot twice in the torso by a state trooper on June 28 after a threatening and daring 22-day prison break from Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York. Richard Matt, 48, his accomplice in the escape, was shot and killed two days before Sweat’s capture.
Joyce Mitchell, the prison seamstress accused of helping the two convicted murderers escape from the prison, pleaded guilty to first-degree promoting prison contraband and fourth-degree criminal facilitation on July 28.
As per the plea agreement, pending a judge’s approval, Mitchell, 51, will serve a prison imprisonment range of about two years up to seven years. She will also spend a year in local jail served concurrently, pay a $5,000 fine, lose her teaching license and was given an order that she must cooperate with authorities.
