Crime Time Central - 10/14/12 - Escape

Today, on Crime Time Central… we ask The Average Juror, Lynda… Guilty or Not Guilty.

Man charged with Escape for being 75 minutes late to halfway house.  

Here are the facts…

Terrance Bell was in federal custody, serving what was left of his federal sentence. He had ONLY TWO MONTHS REMAINING…

In March, while working as a cook at a Waffle House in Nashville, Bell received a phone call informing him that his girlfriend had collapsed at her apartment and had been taken to the hospital. Bell said he made an impulsive decision and went to the hospital without contacting the administration at the halfway house.

A few hours later he realized that it was about an hour and fifteen minutes past the time he was required to be back at the house, so he called one of the directors.

However, Bell said, the director told him that the U.S. marshals had already been notified that he was absent and that he should turn himself in. The director added that he need not return to the halfway house.

Bell said he called the Marshal's Office to schedule a time to turn himself in, but he was told that there would not be anyone in the office who could handle the procedure for the rest of the day.

Bell gave the Marshal's Office the address of his girlfriend's apartment and said he would be staying with her.


A WEEK LATER later he was arrested at her apartment.

He was sentenced to 9 months to serve in federal prison, consecutive to his current sentence.  

TENNESSEE LAW PROVIDES AS FOLLOWS FOR ESCAPE. 

39-16-605.  Escape. 

  (a) It is an offense for any lawfully confined person arrested for, charged with, or found guilty of a civil or criminal offense to escape from a penal institution, as defined in § 39-16-601.

(b)  (1) A person commits the offense of escape who is in the lawful custody of a law enforcement officer and knowingly escapes the officer's custody.

   (2) As used in subdivision (b)(1), "lawful custody" means a person has been taken, seized or detained by a law enforcement officer either by handcuffing, restraining or any other method by which a reasonable person would believe places the person in custody and that otherwise deprives the person's freedom of action in a significant way.

(c)  (1) A violation of subsection (a) is:

      (A) A Class A misdemeanor if the person was being held for a misdemeanor or civil offense; and

      (B) A Class E felony if the person was being held for a felony.

   (2) A violation of subsection (b) is a Class A misdemeanor.

(d) Any sentence received for a violation of this section shall be ordered to be served consecutively to the sentence being served or sentence received for the charge for which the person was being held at the time of the escape.

601 says…..

   (3) "Escape" means unauthorized departure from custody or failure to return to custody following temporary leave for a specific purpose or limited period, but does not include a violation of conditions of probation or parole; and

   (4) "Penal institution" includes any institution or facility used to house or detain a person:

      (A) Convicted of a crime;

      (B) Adjudicated delinquent by a juvenile court;

      (C) Who is in direct or indirect custody after a lawful arrest; or

      (D) When such institution or facility is a court-operated long-term residential substance abuse facility.

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