Casey White and Vicky White appear in images released by the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office, Ala. and by the US Marshals Service, respectively.
The search continues for a missing murder suspect and the sheriff’s deputy who allegedly helped him escape from jail, but the inmate’s former attorney raised concerns about how the manhunt might end. citing casey whiteThe risky encounter of 2015 with the police and a lawyer dale bryant he expressed concern that his former client might escalate things.
“Casey wanted to die,” he said. WAFF Deputy Director of News Miguel Diaz-Lucier in an interview published Friday.
White, 38, has been serving a 75-year prison sentence for a multi-state crime spree in 2015. He recently ended up in the Lauderdale County Jail in Alabama when he was charged in 2020 with allegedly killing Connie Jane Ridgeway59, as part of a 2015 murder-for-hire plot. That’s where authorities say he met the sheriff’s deputy director of corrections. vicky white (There is no relationship). Authorities say the pair escaped from jail on April 29, stunning Deputy White’s colleagues.
Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton expressed sympathy for the two Ridgeway sons now that inmate White is at large.
“We thought we had closure for them to some degree, and now that’s totally backwards,” he said at a news conference on Monday.
Looking back to the arrest of inmate White in 2015, Bryant expressed concern that this search could end in violence.
“He was trying to get the officers to shoot him and that’s kind of my fear, how is this situation going to end,” said the attorney, who represented him during the appeal process. “Except for this one time, I’m afraid Casey may try to shoot them [police] to try to get him shot.”
Authorities have repeatedly emphasized White’s violent behavior, 6-foot-9 size, as well as that he is likely armed with Deputy White’s weapons. This includes an AR-15 rifle, a shotgun and another pistol, according Unique.
Bryant painted a complicated picture of his former client. He said inmate White lives with mental illness — “I honestly can’t remember if it’s schizophrenia” — and he actually did better in jail.
“When he is released from incarceration, he is unable to continue his medication, and even self-medicates by smoking methamphetamine or taking other illegal substances,” Bryant said.
White is a “decent person” while on medication and in a supervised setting, Bryant said.
“All my clients want to get out of jail, and Casey says, ‘I can’t function out of jail,’” he said.
Bryant described a stark difference between the Casey White on meth and no medication, and the Casey White in the county jail.
“[He’s] sweeping the floor, a very nice guy, “said the lawyer. “Every time I met with him, he was really honest and direct. He is one of the few clients I’ve ever had who never held back and tried to lie to me about something. He just left it on the table. Just a big difference between being medicated and not taking your meds.”
White had a hard time at the William E. Donaldson Correctional Center because of other inmates, he said.
“He just wanted to get out of Donaldson prison,” Bryant said, later noting that he heard other inmates had stabbed his former client.
Casey White was charged with Ridgeway’s murder after allegedly writing a letter to an investigator in June 2020 and confessing during a follow-up interview in prison, according to AL.com.
“I’m not saying he didn’t commit Mrs. Ridgeway’s murder, but I’m saying the reason he confessed was to get out of Donaldson Prison,” Bryant said.
Authorities have said they have more evidence against inmate White in the Ridgeway case than just the confession, though the Lauderdale County District Attorney chris connolly he declined to give further details. Details of the confession allegedly matched evidence from the crime scene, which officials had not released.
Singleton has suggested that Deputy White was in a romantic relationship with the inmate. This allegedly spilled over into his free hour. They have known each other for at least two years, authorities said.
“I wasn’t surprised that Casey got away,” Bryant said, pointing to a previous jailbreak attempt. “I was surprised to find out who she ran away with. I had never heard of her before.”
Singleton initially hoped Deputy White was coerced into aiding the escape, but authorities now say she likely used her law enforcement background to keep herself and Casey White off investigators’ radar. Deputy White faces a warrant for his arrest for allowing or facilitating a flight in the first degree. According to authorities, the couple ditched a squad car in a parking lot minutes from jail and transferred to a 2007 Ford Edge SUV, leaving before authorities even realized there was an escape. That second vehicle recently turned up at a tow yard in Williamson County, Tennessee.
According to reports, Deputy White sold your house for below market value before the escape. She applied for retirement. April 29, the day of the incident, was her last day on the job.
Bryant said this escape was too sophisticated for White, whom he described as impulsive and engaged in “crimes of passion” while intoxicated.
You described your client as involved in strong attachments.
“Most of his crimes involving violence against women, it always seems like they ended the relationship and he’s not ready for it to end,” the attorney said. “So he forms that attachment. Really hard to let go.”
[Images of deputy White via the Lauderdale County, Ala. Sheriff’s Office, image of deputy White via the U.S. Marshals Service]
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Reference-lawandcrime.com