Man convicted of escaping jail gets new trial
A three-judge panel in the state Superior Court has granted a Greene County man a new trial after determining the jurors who convicted him of an escape charge were given improper instructions.
Jesse Lee Dunfee, 29, was convicted in Greene County Court last year, according to court documents, stemming from an incident that unfolded when he was released on an “indefinite medical furlough” for “treatment of an undisclosed malady” from the county lockup, where he was serving a sentence related to a previous charge.
Dunfee was released for medical treatment on April 22, 2011, and, according to the court, he never received a copy of the furlough. The jail contacted state police when Dunfee failed to return, and Dunfee was arrested on May 21, 2011. Dunfee claimed he was receiving inpatient rehabilitative therapy until a few days prior to his arrest, and that he was still being treated on an outpatient basis.
Dunfee succeeded in appealing to the panel on the grounds that the trial court should have instructed the jury to consider his intentions and state of mind when he failed to return to jail. According to the order, the trial court declined to instruct the jury to consider intent because intent is not an element of the crime of escape. The panel disagreed.
“In order to convict Dunfee, the jury was required to interpret the order and determine whether Dunfee intentionally, knowingly or recklessly disregarded its terms,” the judges wrote in an opinion issues Tuesday, referring to Dunfee’s claim that he never received a copy of the furlough order. “Dunfee ‘s intent is clearly an important and relevant determination, especially given the indefinite nature of the order.”
“Dunfee was entitled to an instruction making sure the jury would properly gauge his actions,” the panel concluded, and vacated the sentence. Dunfee will be scheduled for a new trial at a later date.