Killer's escape from Pennsylvania jail costs him his right to appeal life sentence

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A convicted killer's escape from a Pennsylvania jail last year has cost him his right to appeal his original life sentence, a state court ruled Wednesday.

Danilo Cavalcante escaped from a Chester County lockup while waiting to be transferred to state prison to serve a life sentence for killing his ex-girlfriend. He broke out by clambering up between two walls in a jail exercise yard, then climbing over razor wire and jumping from a roof. Cavalcante was captured two weeks later after an intense manhunt that made national headlines.

While he was a fugitive, his attorneys filed a motion challenging the evidence and certain aspects of his sentence in the murder case.

But the motion was legally invalid because fugitives in Pennsylvania forfeit such rights while they are on the run, according to the Pennsylvania Superior Court. That, in turn, affected the deadline for Cavalcante's attorneys to appeal his life-without-parole murder sentence.

Had it been valid, the motion would have extended the appeal deadline. Instead, the original deadline remained intact — and Cavalcante's subsequent appeal came eight days too late, the court ruled.

In August, Cavalcante pleaded guilty to escape and was sentenced to serve 15 to 30 years, in addition to his life sentence without parole.