The Alabama inmate who escaped custody with his jailer last year has agreed to a plea deal just ahead of his murder trial for the death of that jail employee.
Vicky White was the assistant director of corrections in Lauderdale County on April 29, 2022, when she led inmate Casey White, no relation, out of the jail and into a waiting patrol car, having told other jail employees she was taking him to court for a mental health evaluation, as CrimeOnline reported in extensive coverage at the time.
But there was no court proceeding scheduled that day, and the two ditched the patrol car and fled Alabama in a car Vicky White had bought just days earlier. An 11-day manhunt ended in Evansville, Indiana, with a car chase, Vicky White’s suicide, and Casey White’s surrender.
The inmate was charged with escape and murder on an Alabama law that says if someone dies while a felony is being committed, a suspect is on the hook for murder.
Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly said that White approached him after a routine hearing on Thursday and said he would agree to plead guilty to escape and take the maximum penalty, life in prison, WHNT reported. The parties returned to the courtroom, where White apologized to Vicky White’s mother while entering the new plea.
“It wasn’t supposed to go that way,” he said. “Things happened … and we was in love.”
Their plan, he told the court, was to start a new life together, according to WAAY.
A judge has final say in the sentencing, which is scheduled for June 8.
White is still scheduled to go on trial on August 14 for the 2015 murder of Connie Ridgeway in Rogersville, the trial he was waiting for when Vicky White helped him escape. He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity
White’s criminal history includes beating his brother with the handle of an ax-sledgehammer, for which he was sentenced to more than three years in prison in 2012.
In 2016, White was convicted of attempted murder and robbery for a crime spree that included a home invasion and was sentenced to 75 years in prison.
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[Featured image: Casey White and Vicky White/Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office]
