PLATTSBURGH NY — One of the two convicted murderers who broke out of an upstate New York prison last year pleaded guilty Friday to three counts related to the escape.
David Sweat, the only one of the pair to survive the massive police manhunt after their June escape from the Clinton Correctional Facility, pleaded guilty in a Plattsburgh court to two counts of escape in the first degree and a count of promoting prison contraband.
Sweat, 35, already was serving a sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole for a murder conviction that put him in prison.
Friday’s guilty plea avoids a trial in the matter. In addition to the life sentence Sweat already is serving, he faces up to 14 years in prison for the prison break charges.
A judge is scheduled to sentence him on February 3.
Sweat was shot and captured by law enforcement on June 28 after more than three weeks on the run. His breakout partner, Richard Matt, was shot and killed two days before Sweat was caught. Officials discovered on June 6 that the convicted murderers had drilled their way out of the maximum-security prison.
Prison worker Joyce Mitchell, who helped Matt and Sweat escape, was sentenced to up to seven years for first-degree promoting prison contraband, a felony, and a concurrent year for fourth-degree misdemeanor criminal facilitation.
