More prison time for murderer over New York escape

Attorney Joseph Mucia, left, goes over court documents with David Sweat following his sentencing in Clinton County Court Wednesday Feb. 3, 2016, in Plattsburgh, N.Y. Sweat, a convicted killer already serving life behind bars, was ordered Wednesday to pay restitution and sentenced to an additional 3 1/2 to seven years of prison time for his daring escape last year from a maximum-security prison in northern New York. Press-Republican via AP

NEW YORK, United States—A convicted murderer who escaped a maximum-security New York prison and went on the run for three weeks last year was sentenced Wednesday to up to 14 years more time behind bars, officials said.

David Sweat, who is already serving a life sentence without parole for murdering a sheriff’s deputy in 2002, had pleaded guilty to two counts of escape and one count of possessing dangerous contraband.

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He was sentenced at a Clinton County court in the state of New York to between seven and 14 years, in what was a largely procedural move.

Sweat was captured just south of the Canadian border on June 28 after his audacious prison bust with convicted killer Richard Matt, who was shot dead by a US border patrol.

The multimillion-dollar manhunt forced up to 1,300 law enforcement officers to scour the rugged, remote area around the Clinton Correctional Facility after Sweat and Matt broke free on June 6.

They used power tools to cut through cell walls, then crawled through pipes to emerge from a manhole in the village of Dannemora.