By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch
Times-Picayune
GARDEN CITY, Mich. — A Michigan man who escaped from jail shortly after being sentenced to life in prison in 2007 chuckled slightly when his punishment was increased Wednesday by 40 years.
Tony Massie, 45, of Plymouth, Mich., hopped the fence at the St. Tammany Parish jail in Covington four days after he was sentenced to life. Prosecutors had used prior convictions to sentence him under the habitual offender law, which can lead to heightened minimum and maximum penalties.
Massie was convicted in May 2007 of attempted simple robbery for an incident near Madisonville the year before. He also had prior convictions, all from Michigan, for unlawful driving away and fleeing a police officer, criminal sexual conduct, and breaking and entering, according to authorities and records.
On Wednesday, state Judge William J. “Will” Crain imposed the additional 40 years to run consecutively with the life sentence. While simple escape carries a maximum of only five years in prison, Massie was sentenced to the additional 35 years because the escape conviction bumped him into a higher tier of the habitual offender law.
Assistant District Attorney Scott Gardner, who handles most cases involving the habitual offender law, prosecuted the case. Massie escaped from the parish jail Aug. 19, 2007, largely because he had mistakenly been allowed to keep his trusty status after receiving the life sentence. He used that status to gain access to a fenced area outside the jail, hid behind a trash bin, scaled the fence and escaped.
At the time, Sheriff Jack Strain attributed Massie’s continued trusty status to “human error,” citing a lack of communication among the courts, the district attorney’s office and his own agency. He said Massie’s flight-risk status should have been reassessed after the life sentence. On Nov. 15, 2007, Massie was recaptured in Garden City, Mich.
In Crain’s courtroom Wednesday afternoon, Massie laughed when asked by his attorney, James Burke, whether he wished to appeal the judge’s decision and ask for a lesser sentence. “My client has said he does not wish to do so,” Burke translated to the court.
Copyright 2009 The Times-Picayune Publishing Company