9 New Orleans inmates who broke out of jail plead not guilty to escape charges

By SARA CLINE Associated Press Nine men accused of emerging out of a New Orleans city jail in May after slipping through a hole behind a toilet and scaling a barbed wire fence pleaded not guilty to escape charges on Wednesday Agents have repeatedly pointed to video surveillance of the brazen escape one of the largest jailbreaks in latest U S history and vowed to bring the inmates to justice A th inmate Derrick Groves a convicted killer is the lone fugitive still on the run Everyone is entitled to due process But there s a video of these detainees running out of the jail in the middle of the night They were not heading to court hearings Attorney General Liz Murrill commented on Wednesday We will continue to hold everyone accountable for the escape FILE The Orleans Justice Center jail left in New Orleans is seen on Friday May Brett Duke The Times-Picayune The New Orleans Advocate via AP File The nine men appeared via Zoom from the Louisiana State Penitentiary for their arraignment Wednesday Groves attorney was present for the hearing but did not enter a plea on his behalf announced The New Orleans Advocate The Times-Picayune All men are charged with simple escape which is tacked on top of previous criminal counts that initially landed them in jail Murrill s office authenticated The men s attorneys could not instantly be reached for comment The escape charge carries a sentence of two to five years in prison Related Articles Leaders search for a bear that attacked a hiker on a popular trail in Anchorage Alaska Texas lawmakers review catastrophic floods but say they aren t out to assign blame Harvard under analysis over participation in visa scheme for foreign students and researchers What to know about soda sweeteners as sugar returns to American Coke children taken to hospitals after seizure-like markers at Harvard Square church concert Executives say that the men broke out of the jail after yanking open a locked door to access a cell where the water had been turned off removing a toilet and squeezing through a hole in a wall Video surveillance shows men sprinting out of the jail and fleeing into the coverage of darkness The getaway went unnoticed for hours until a routine morning head count When officials located the point of the escape they identified a message written on the cell wall above the hole once covered by the toilet To Easy LoL At least people have been arrested and charged for helping in the escape or the aftermath Several of them are family members of the escapees and face charges for providing movement food shelter and cash to the fugitives