The case involving an inmate who fled a work detail site on Oct. 23 has been waived to the Daviess County grand jury.
William Lewis Smith, 29, of Columbus, Ohio, appeared in Daviess County District Court Monday for a preliminary hearing after he evaded law enforcement for four hours and was eventually found hiding in the wood line bordering the Ohio River. Smith was arrested and charged the same day with second-degree escape and tampering with physical evidence.
Smith has been at the Daviess County Detention Center as a state inmate since June 2019. Smith was lodged at DCDC for probation violation for a felony theft offense and two counts of failure to appear.
The two charges Smith received on Oct. 23 are Class D felonies and could be punishable for up to five years in prison, each, though inmates who commit Class D felonies sometimes receive probation instead of prison time.
After being apprehended and returned to DCDC, Jailer Art Maglinger said the inmate’s escape seemed impulsive and was largely driven by a desire to see his family.
“He said being at [Horse Fork Creek Park] reminded him of his family back home, and he got impulsive and took off,” Maglinger told Owensboro Times.
Smith was working with with the mow crew under the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s trustee program, when he jumped a fence near the worksite in the 2900 block of Fairview Drive and fled on foot. Smith claimed he never received a ride from anyone during his escape, but walked all the way from one side of the city to the other during his four-hour escape.
District Judge David Payne scheduled a Dec. 7, 2020 show cause hearing for Smith, and his attorney told Payne that they should know whether Smith will be eligible for parole by early 2021.
