9 New Orleans inmates who broke out of jail in May plead not guilty to escape charges
Nine of the 10 inmates accused of breaking out of a New Orleans city jail by climbing through a hole behind a toilet earlier this year have pleaded not guilty to charges related to the escape on July 23, the Louisiana Attorney General's Office said.
Ten men escaped from the Orleans Parish Prison in the early hours of May 16, breaching a cell wall and using a blind spot to flee undetected. The jailbreak was one of the largest and most brazen in recent U.S. history, prompting a massive manhunt that spanned multiple states and sparked immediate scrutiny over the prison's security vulnerabilities.
Three men were recaptured by the end of the same day, and five more were caught weeks after the escape. The most recent inmate was captured in late June — nearly six weeks after the high-profile escape.
The 10th inmate, Derrick Groves, a convicted killer, remains at large.
The nine men appeared via video from the maximum-security Louisiana State Penitentiary, where they are all now being held, for their arraignment on July 23, The Times-Picayune/NOLA.com reported. Lester Duhé, a spokesperson for the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office, confirmed to Paste BN that the nine men pleaded not guilty to escape charges.
An attorney for Groves was present at the hearing but did not enter a plea on his behalf, according to The Times-Picayune/NOLA.com.
All 10 inmates are charged with simple escape, which carries a sentence of two to five years in prison, authorities said. The inmates initially faced other criminal charges, including murder, aggravated assault, and domestic abuse.
"Everyone is entitled to due process. But there’s a video of these detainees running out of the jail in the middle of the night. They were not heading to court hearings," Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement on social media after the hearing. "We will continue to hold everyone accountable for the escape."
How did the inmates escape?
The inmates escaped by going through a hole in a cell wall after ripping away a toilet and sink unit, according to authorities. They fled from the building by passing through a loading dock door.
The group then moved along a secure perimeter road between the jail and a building under construction, authorities said. After scaling a barbed wire fence, surveillance footage captured the men running across Interstate 10 and disappearing into a nearby neighborhood, where investigators later found discarded prison clothing.
The escape went unnoticed for more than seven hours after authorities discovered the men were missing from a morning headcount. Authorities found several taunting phrases and doodles scrawled on the wall above the hole, including "To [sic] easy lol" and "Catch us when you can."
Authorities have said they suspected that other people had either helped the inmates escape from the prison or helped them evade capture. Since the jailbreak, at least 16 people have been arrested for aiding the escapees.
Most of the alleged accomplices are family members of the escapees, according to authorities. Jail maintenance worker Sterling Williams, 33, was arrested and charged with being a principal to simple escape and malfeasance in office.
Murrill previously said Williams admitted that he complied with a demand from one of the inmates to shut off the water to a cell, which allowed the escapees to remove the toilet and sink unit. His lawyer said he did so because of a clogged toilet, not to aid in the escape.
10th inmate still on the lam
Groves, 27, is the only inmate who remains at large. New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick has urged Groves to turn himself in, saying that either way, "you will be taken into custody."
He was convicted of two charges of second-degree murder and two charges of attempted second-degree murder in October in connection with a shooting during Mardi Gras in 2018. Groves also has been awaiting sentencing on a manslaughter charge since October.
On June 27, authorities arrested Antoine Massey, 33, at a residence in New Orleans, according to the Louisiana State Police. He was initially in jail on charges of domestic abuse involving strangulation and theft of a motor vehicle.
Massey made national headlines last month after two videos posted on social media showed a man purporting to be the escapee and claiming to be innocent. State and local authorities had said they were aware of the videos and were reviewing them.
Contributing: Chris Kenning and Jeanine Santucci