Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/529503
ByMaryEsch The Associated Press PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. A woman charged with help- ing two convicted mur- derers escape from a max- imum-security facility where she worked had dis- cussed having them kill her husband, a district attorney confirmed Wednesday. Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie said at a news conference that Joyce Mitchell had talked to inmates Rich- ard Matt and David Sweat about killing her husband, Lyle, who also works at the Clinton Correctional Facil- ity in Dannemora, near the Canadian border. Sweat and Matt escaped from the 170-year-old prison on June 6 and remain on the lam. Joyce Mitchell, a prison tailoring shop in- structor who befriended the inmates, was arrested June 12. Lyle Mitchell arrived at the state police barracks in Malone with his attorney late Wednesday morning to talk to authorities, the Press-Republican of Platts- burgh reported. Investigators have no in- formation that Lyle Mitchell knew about the escape plan or assisted in it, Wylie said. Meanwhile, state police expanded the search for the killers beyond a 16-square- mile area of woods, fields and swamps where the manhunt has been most intense. Police stepped up roving patrols and were checking the hundreds, if not thousands, of seasonal homes and hunting camps in the region. Officials said the num- ber of law enforcement of- ficers involved in the search had been reduced from more than 800 earlier in the week to more than 600 Wednesday. In Dannemora, the heavy law enforcement presence prevalent for more than a week all but disap- peared by Tuesday, and roadblocks surrounding the town were gone. State police said Wednes- day that they have "no hard evidence" that Sweat and Matt were able to leave the area. But they cautioned that the lack of evidence doesn't mean the escapees are some- where near the prison. 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 kid- nap, torture and hacksaw dismemberment of his for- mer boss. Joyce Mitchell is charged with helping the killers flee by providing them with hacksaw blades, chisels and other tools. She was visited in jail Tuesday by her hus- band. Clinton County Sheriff David Favro described her as "composed" during the visit. Prosecutors say Mitchell had agreed to be the get- away driver but backed out because she still loved her husband and felt guilty for participating. She was charged last week with supplying con- traband, including a punch and a screwdriver, to the two inmates. She has pleaded not guilty and has been suspended without pay from her $57,000-a-year job overseeing inmates who sew clothes and learn to re- pair sewing machines. Authorities say the con- victs used power tools to cut through the backs of their adjacent cells, broke through a brick wall and then cut into a steam pipe and slithered through it, finally emerging outside the prison walls through a manhole. Wylie says they apparently used tools stored by prison contrac- tors, taking care to return them to their toolboxes af- ter each night's work. PRISON ESCAPE Prosecutor:Workerdiscussedhavinginmateskillhusband G.N.MILLER—NYPOST Joyce Mitchell appears before Judge Mark Rogers in Plattsburgh City Court, New York, for a hearing. By Steve Karnowski The Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS A federal judge declared Minneso- ta's sex offender treatment program unconstitutional Wednesday and gave the state's political leaders one last chance to propose so- lutions that would protect the "fundamental rights" of more than 700 people locked up indefinitely before he im- poses remedies himself. U.S. District Judge Don- ovan Frank sided with pa- tients who were civilly com- mitted to the Minnesota Sex Offender Program after completing their prison sen- tences. He agreed that given the program's 20-year his- tory, no one in it has "any realistic hope of ever get- ting out," even if they do well in treatment and are at low risk of committing new crimes. Instead, he said, it's undisputed that some res- idents no longer meet the criteria for commitment or could be released into less- restrictive settings. "The stark reality is that there is something very wrong with the state's method of dealing with sex offenders in a program that has never fully discharged anyone," Frank wrote. Yet Frank ordered no immediate changes or re- leases, instead urging top political leaders to bring proposed remedies to pro- ceedings that will begin in August. Otherwise he made it clear he would impose his own. He suggested more than a dozen, including more reliance on alternate less-restrictive facilities. He said he may appoint a spe- cial master to ensure com- pliance. And he warned that a failure to come up with an acceptable plan could lead him to order the closing of the St. Peter and Moose Lake facilities or the exten- sive release of patients. Minnesota has strug- gled for years with the ris- ing costs of its policy on sex offenders, spending mil- lions to expand and update the two the prison-like fa- cilities. It costs more than $124,000 a year to house just one resident, triple the cost of prison. But lawmakers, many fearful of appearing soft on crime, have resisted any substantive changes. Just this year, legislators de- clined a proposal to buy land for and design two facilities aimed at hous- ing sex offenders on course for eventual release. They also declined to provide re- quested funds that would have allowed the program to carry out some of the judge's recommendations, such as periodic risk as- sessments for each resident. "This is a very powerful statement by Judge Frank. I think it's an indictment of the Minnesota political sys- tem," Dan Gustafson, the lead attorney for the plain- tiffs in the class action law- suit, said at a news confer- ence. "These issues are not new to the state of Minne- sota but the political sys- tem has failed to act on it, and I think that frustration comes out in the judge's opinion pretty clearly." Both Gov. Mark Dayton and Human Services Com- missioner Lucinda Jesson said they still believe the pro- gram is constitutional and plan to defend the law. How- ever, they both stopped short of saying they would appeal. "We intend to defend the constitutionality of our sex offender program and we're looking at the best way to do that," Jesson said in an interview. Former Minnesota Su- preme Court Chief Justice Eric Magnuson, an appellate lawexpertwhoalsoledatask force that recommended re- forms to the program, said he doesn't believe Frank's order is appealable yet be- cause the case isn't over and he hasn't entered a final or- der. While the state already asked the judge to allow an appeal now, Magnuson said the state likely will have to wait until Frank actually or- ders it do something. Gustafson said fixing the program will require a combination of legisla- tion and executive action. He said the Department of Human Services can make some changes by itself, but some will require money that likely will have to come from the Legislature. And he said there are some things in the law that only the Legislature can change. Sen. Kathy Sheran, who leads a committee that oversees the program, said that even if state leaders opt to challenge the ruling they should immediately begin work on a fallback. "I don't think the Legisla- ture should wait to be told what to do when they al- ready know what to do just to avoid a politically tough vote," said Sheran, DFL- Mankato. Frank wrote that some sex offenders are "truly dangerous and should not be released," but oth- ers should have been freed some time ago. The court must balance citizens' con- stitutional rights without compromising public safety and the interests of justice, he said. "The balance is a difficult and important one, but it can and will be done." 'FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS' Minnesota sex offender program ruled unconstitutional By Anne Flaherty The Associated Press WASHINGTON AT&T Mo- bility LLC has been slapped with a record $100 million fine for offering consum- ers "unlimited" data, but then slowing their Internet speeds after they reached a certain amount. The com- pany says it will fight the charges. The Federal Communi- cations Commission said Wednesday that the com- pany misled consumers into buying plans they be- lieved would give them un- limited ability to send and receive data, including Web browsing, GPS navigation and streaming videos. But once the consumer hit a certain level, the data on unlimited plans would be slowed down significantly, at speeds lower than adver- tised, the FCC said. Courtfightpossible AT&T said it would "vig- orously dispute" the fine, which was the largest pro- posed in FCC history. If AT&T can provide evidence that the FCC allegations are wrong, the fine could be re- duced. Otherwise, if AT&T refuses to pay, it's possible the two sides will wind up in court. "The FCC has specifically identified this practice as a legitimate and reasonable way to manage network re- sources for the benefit of all customers, and has known for years that all of the ma- jor carriers use it," the com- pany said in a statement re- leased to reporters. "We have been fully transparent with our customers, providing notice in multiple ways and going well beyond the FCC's disclosure requirements." It's not unusual for phone companies to slow, or "throt- tle," speeds on a network as a way to manage congestion. Verizon slows down speeds for its heaviest users, but only on certain smartphones when there is congestion. Once the bottleneck eases, speeds return to normal. Until this spring, AT&T was slowing speeds until the customer's next billing cycle, even when there was no congestion. Both Verizon and AT&T had phased out their unlim- ited plans after data usage grew following the iPhone's launch in 2007. Existing customers, however, were able to keep their unlim- ited plans. The FCC says AT&T's ap- proach to unlimited plans violated the agency's trans- parency rule. "Unlimited means un- limited," said Travis LeB- lanc, the FCC enforcement bureau chief. "As today's ac- tion demonstrates, the com- mission is committed to holding accountable those broadband providers who fail to be fully transparent about data limits." Federal lawsuit The hefty fine by the FCC comes on the heels of a fed- eral lawsuit filed against the company last fall. The Federal Trade Commis- sion, which enforces rules against deceptive adver- tising, said it wants to re- fund customers who were offered the unlimited data packages, only to be given slower data speeds than ad- vertised. That lawsuit is still working its way through a federal court in California. Earlier this year, the FTC accused TracFone Wireless of similar tactics. TracFone agreed to settle the case for $40 million. AT&T Mobility is located in Atlanta and is a subsid- iary of Dallas-based AT&T Inc. 'UNLIMITED' DATA AT &T h it w it h $1 00 m il li on fi ne STEVEN SENNE — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE AT&T is facing a fine for offering "unlimited" data, but slowing speeds a er users passed a certain level. By Mike Schneider The Associated Press OAKLAND, FLA. Two grade school boys who rescued a toddler and a baby from a fire say they didn't think twice about going into a burning home. Ten-year-old Isiah Fran- cis and 11-year-old Jere- miah Grimes say they were watching YouTube and play- ing video games Tuesday when they smelled smoke coming from the home of Jeremiah's neighbors. Isiah said Wednesday that he ran next door first and found the children's father outside, searching for water to extinguish the flames. Isiah ran into the mobile home and found the chil- dren in the kitchen with the help of Jeremiah. He says he scooped up the children and gave one to Jeremiah, and they ran out of the house. Two other children, ages 2 and 5, also in the home were rescued by firefighters who arrived after Jeremiah called 911. SMELLED SMOKE 2 boys rescue young children from fire | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2015 4 B