Last of 10 New Orleans jail escapees agrees to return to Louisiana after Atlanta capture
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$1 per week for 24 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $4.00 plus GST every four weeks. After 24 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.75/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans jail escapee Derrick Groves, who spent nearly five months on the run before being captured in Georgia, agreed to be returned to Louisiana in a Thursday court appearance.
“I want to return where I’m from,” Groves, a New Orleans native, told a Fulton County magistrate judge during the televised hearing.
Groves, who was caught Wednesday in the basement crawlspace of an Atlanta home, waived his right to an extradition hearing.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said there are “ongoing discussions about the next steps” for bringing Groves back to the state.
A timeline to bring the 28-year-old to the state has not yet been determined, said Sgt. Kate Stegall, a spokesperson with Louisiana State Police. Once returned, Groves will be placed in the state’s maximum security prison in Angola, a Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections spokesperson said.
Groves was already charged with one count of simple escape in June and will be arraigned when he’s back in Louisiana, Murrill said. The charges carry a two to five year sentence.
Murrill said Wednesday she is considering upgrading Groves’ charge to aggravated escape — which carries a five to 10 year sentence — given that authorities found a handgun, a shotgun and 20 pounds (9 kilograms) of marijuana inside the Atlanta home where Groves had been hiding.
In May, Groves and nine other New Orleans jail inmates removed a toilet and crawled through a hole, writing “To Easy LoL” on the wall above to commemorate their brazen escape. The other escapees, who were all recaptured within six weeks, were also charged with simple scape.
Groves already faces life imprisonment after being convicted of murder last year for gunning down two people during a family block party on Mardi Gras day in 2018.
___
Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.