By Missy Wilkinson
The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate
NEW ORLEANS — Two inmates who were recaptured in Texas after a mass jailbreak will be held without bond, an Orleans Parish Criminal District Court judge ruled Saturday afternoon.
Leo Tate, 31, and Jermaine Donald, 42, were both recaptured by the Texas Department of Public Safety in Walker County, Texas after 10 days on the lam. They were transported back to Louisiana Friday, according to Louisiana State Police.
Tate and Donald appeared before magistrate commissioner Joyce Sallah via Zoom from Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, a maximum security prison, each held on a count of aggravated escape. Assistant Attorney General Melissa Morvant asked they be held without bond based on their pre-existing charges, the circumstances of the May 16 escape and the fact that they “made it all the way to Texas.”
Public defender Bernadette Fox asked that bail be set and warned her clients that their calls were being tracked.
“Given the conditions the jail is in that have been made more clear recently, I can understand why anybody wouldn’t want to be housed there,” Fox said. “And it wouldn’t take much effort to do what was done.”
Sallah ordered Tate and Donald held without bond.
Tate was originally arrested on charges of second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder stemming from a 2018 double shooting in the 7th Ward. In September 2021, he accepted a plea deal that dismissed the murder-related charges. He was instead convicted of obstruction of justice and sentenced to 10 years in prison, according to jail records.
Donald was charged in December 2023 with second-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a felon, according to court records. He entered a not guilty plea in April 2024.
As of Saturday afternoon, eight escapees have been recaptured. Antoine Massey and Derrick Groves remain at large, and the search continues across state lines.
Anyone with information about the escaped inmates should contact the FBI at 1-800- CALL -FBI or via fbi.gov/neworleansfugitives, Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111 or via CrimestoppersGNO.org, or the Louisiana State Police Fusion Center at (225) 925-4192.
Tipsters are eligible for a $50,000 reward.
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