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MALONE – Acting Franklin County District Attorney Glenn MacNeill will review the use of deadly force in the shootings of escaped inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat.
“We’ll be investigating and reviewing both situations, the two shootings,” MacNeill said Monday. “We’re still in the process of getting all the stuff that we need to do that, including the forensic evidence from the investigation, the medical records, the autopsy reports.”
Meanwhile, state police continue to try and hone in on the inmates’ escape route through Clinton and Franklin counties.
“We do have some new leads that came in last week that we’re pursuing,” said Capt. Robert LaFountain, head of the state police Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Matt and Sweat escaped from Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora in early June, setting off a massive 23-day manhunt through rugged terrain involving more than 1,100 law enforcement officers.
Sweat, 35, is serving a life sentence for killing a sheriff’s deputy. Matt, 49, was serving 25 years to life after being convicted of kidnapping and dismembering his former boss.
Matt was shot dead on June 26 in the woods off of state Route 30 south of Malone, about 30 miles from the prison. A U.S. border patrol sector chief, John Pfeifer, has said that a member of the patrol’s tactical team opened fire after Matt aimed a 20-gauge shotgun at the officer. Officials earlier had said the agent shot Matt when he failed to comply with commands to raise his hands. Matt was shot three times in the head.
Two days later, Sweat was shot by state police Sgt. Jay Cook in a field in Constable, about a mile from the Canadian border. Police have said Cook shot Sweat twice in the torso as he fled toward a stand of trees.
Sweat was treated at Alice Hyde Medical Center in Malone, then transferred to Albany Medical Center before being moved to the infirmary at the maximum-security Five Points Correctional Facility in Romulus. Sweat was moved last week to the prison’s Special Housing Unit, where he’ll spend 23 hours a day in solitary confinement.
MacNeill said his investigation of the shootings is separate from other agencies’ review of the escape.
“My focus is what happened here in Franklin County,” he said. “Anytime there is a shooting, whether it’s is a death or a non-lethal shooting, you’re required to look into it, to investigate that and make sure it was a legal shooting.”
A 1986 U.S. Supreme Court case known as Tennessee v. Garner laid out how force can be used to capture a fleeing suspect: Deadly force can’t be used to prevent escape unless “the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others.”
New York state law also allows for deadly force if a dangerous convict is escaping from a detention facility, which is why armed guards may be stationed in towers at prisons.
MacNeill wouldn’t get into specifics about the statutes he’ll review in his probe, saying it’s too early.
“There are times when deadly force is allowed, as a general statement, but that is why you conduct your investigation to make sure the shootings were in compliance with the statute around it,” he said.
The DA said it’s possible that a grand jury could review one or both of the shootings.
“That’s an option, but I really can’t comment on that until I’ve had a chance to review all the evidence,” he said. “After I review it, we’ll have to make a determination on what direction we need to go with this.”
Authorities have said Matt and Sweat traveled mostly at night and managed to procure food, a gun and other supplies from hunting camps and seasonal cabins in Franklin and Clinton counties before splitting up as they tried to elude the manhunt.
Although it’s been more than three weeks since the search ended, police are still asking camp owners to check their properties for signs of a break-in or items that may have been taken or left behind by Matt and Sweat.
“We’re still in the process of tracing the route of travel of the escapees,” LaFountain said Monday. “That remains under investigation. We’re asking anyone who notices anything unusual that may have been disturbed in that area between Dannemora, Saranac, Bellmont, Duane and Malone, up to Constable as well, anywhere in there, if somebody notices something to please contact us.”
LaFountain said police have received reports of other burglarized camps but he said they’re still investigating whether they were actually broken into by Matt and Sweat. He also said police are still trying to identify the owner of a “TYR” brand backpack that Sweat was wearing when he was captured.
“It’s been described as a high-end backpack, something used more for mountaineering, not hunting,” LaFountain said. “We believe that was obtained from a camp that was burglarized while he was on the run.”
Officials have said Sweat was carrying maps, tools, Pop Tarts and other items in the backpack. Anyone with information about the backpack is asked to call state police at 518-897-2000.
MacNeill said his office will also review the camp break-ins in Franklin County, which could lead to charges against Sweat, although the DA said that’s secondary to his investigation of the shootings.
“That is something we’ll take a look at some point in time and determine what, if anything, we need to do there,” he said. “We want to gather all the DNA evidence to determine who was there.”
MacNeill said he’ll handle the review of the shootings himself, although one of his assistant DAs may help out from time to time. He wouldn’t give an estimate on how long that work could take.
“I can’t put a time frame on it because I’m still in the process of getting all the evidence and reports and everything that I need to do a comprehensive review,” he said.
The New York Times, citing unnamed sources close to the investigation, reported Monday that Sweat, from his hospital bed, told investigators he started exploring for possible escape routes from the prison in late January after he was transferred to a cell next to Matt’s. He reportedly used a hacksaw blade to cut through the back of his cell, then Matt’s, giving them access to the catwalks and tunnels inside the prison.
Sweat said he eventually found a steam pipe that led through a concrete wall. He told investigators he spent four weeks cutting into and out of it using hacksaw blades with handles fashioned from rags, the Times reported. Sweat and Matt then cut a chain holding a manhole cover outside the prison to get away.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.