Convicted killer David Sweat sentenced for prison breakout
ALBANY - The surviving murderer who escaped prison and led authorities on a massive three-week manhunt last year apologized to the local community Wednesday.
David Sweat, 35, was sentenced Wednesday in Clinton County Court, where a judge tacked 3 1/2 to 7 years on to his prison sentence and ordered him to pay more than $79,000 in restitution.
His sentence, however, won't have much practical impact: Sweat is already serving life in prison without parole for the brutal 2002 murder of Kevin Tarsia, a Broome County sheriff's deputy.
Sporting a clean-shaven head, a faint salt-and-pepper goatee and wire-rimmed glasses, Sweat spoke rose and spoke briefly before he was sentenced. He apologized for putting much of northern New York on edge during his three weeks on the run from the maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility in the village of Dannemora.
"I would like to apologize to the community and the people who felt the fear and felt it necessary to leave their homes and their community because of the escape," Sweat said. "That was never my intent. I deeply apologize for that, your honor."
Sweat and fellow murderer Richard Matt escaped from the maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility last June, using smuggled tools to cut through their prison cell and into the state facility's pipes before escaping through a nearby manhole.
The pair led federal, state and local authorities on a three-week manhunt that captured international headlines and cost the state about $1 million a day in overtime costs alone. Matt was ultimate shot and killed on June 26, while Sweat was captured by a state trooper near the Canadian border two days later.
Sweat was sentenced Wednesday after previously pleading guilty to two charges of escape and one charge of promoting prison contraband.
Judge Patrick McGill's up-to-seven-year sentence levied on Sweat was the maximum allowed by law. The judge also ordered Sweat to pay $79,841, the state's cost to repair the damage to his prison cell and the facility's catwalks and pipes.
It's unlikely Sweat will be able to repay the costs. Sweat earns $6 a week working inside the prison, and it would take 1,029 years to repay the fine if a portion of his wages are garnished, according to his attorney, Joseph Mucia.
During the hearing Wednesday, Mucia said Sweat continues to cooperate with the state Inspector General's Office, which is investigating the breakout. And he said Sweat acted as something of a voice of reason during the escape, claiming he talked Matt out of taking hostages at one point.
"I would say that Mr. Sweat saved some lives," Mucia said.
McGill was unmoved. He acknowledged sentencing Sweat was "anti-climactic," because he's already serving life in prison.
"For acts, there are consequences," McGill said. And unfortunately, you have had consequences aplenty."
Sweat is currently serving his sentence in solitary confinement at the Five Points Correctional Facility in Romulus, Seneca County. One prison worker who aided him, Joyce Mitchell, is serving a prison sentence of up to seven years.