Accused prison worker's husband tortured by hindsight
Lawyer for Lyle Mitchell says he's been asking himself how could he have not seen the signs of trouble with his wife Joyce and wonders whether he could have prevented the prisoners' escape
The husband of a New York maximum-security prison worker was “blown away” after learning his wife discussed having two inmates kill him as she helped them plot their successful escape earlier this month, his lawyer said Thursday.
Joyce and Lyle Mitchell worked as instructors at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, where convicted murderers David Sweat and Richard Matt were reported missing June 6. Sweat and Matt remain at large and have been added to the U.S. Marshals Service’s 15 Most Wanted fugitives list.
Joyce Mitchell is accused of giving the inmates hacksaw blades and other tools to cut through their cells and a steam pipe to get beyond the prison walls. Authorities say she planned to be the convicts’ getaway driver but backed out at the last second.
Authorities have said that Mitchell discussed having her husband killed with the men while getting close to them while they worked in the prison tailor shop.
"Joyce Mitchell tells us that was discussed between her and Matt and that upon their escape they were going to return back to Joyce Mitchell's home at which time Matt and Sweat were going to kill her husband," said Andrew Wylie, Clinton County district attorney.
Lyle Mitchell's lawyer, Peter Dumas, said Thursday that his client was shocked by word of the plot and that Joyce Mitchell had told her husband she couldn't go through with it.
"Toward the end, Joyce had told Lyle — and we have no reason to doubt it — that she told Sweat and Matt that she wasn't going to go through with it," he said. "At that point, they threatened her by threatening Lyle, saying they were going to have someone on the outside do something to him or someone on the inside when he was back at work do something to him so I think it was a point of control."
Lyle Mitchell is cooperating with police and isn’t facing charges.
"He's still in love with her, but I don't know that he is going to be very supportive," Dumas said.
Joyce Mitchell has pleaded not guilty.
As the search for the men continued into its 13th day Thursday, correction officials lifted a lockdown that had limited activities in the prison. Inmates are allowed to eat in the mess hall again rather than their cells and a number are going to work assignments. Recreation activities and use of the phones are also resuming. Visitors are expected to be allowed starting Friday.
Sweat, 35, was serving a life sentence without parole in the killing of a sheriff's deputy. Matt, 48, was doing 25 years to life for the kidnap, torture and hacksaw dismemberment of his former boss.
The Marshals Service, which added Sweat and Matt to its 15 Most Wanted fugitives list on Thursday, said it will work tirelessly to ensure their run from the law is as brief as possible.
"The agency's 15 Most Wanted fugitive list is reserved for the worst of the worst," Marshals Service Director Stacia Hylton said. "There is no question David Sweat and Richard Matt fall into this category."
Wylie on Thursday also offered a new detail on the relationship between Matt and Joyce Mitchell, saying the inmate painted a picture of her children after she gave him boxing gloves.
"She provided him the speed boxing gloves for the picture of her children," Wylie said. "So she gave it to her husband, Lyle, for their anniversary."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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