The capital murder suspect who escaped jail with a corrections officer has likely stopped taking medication for a diagnosed mental illness, making him a danger to himself and others, according to his lawyer.
“When Casey is on his medication and in jail in a structured environment, Casey’s an alright guy,” Dale Bryant, who represented Casey White in 2019, told AL.com Saturday. “You’d never know he was a danger because he’s medicated and in a structured environment.”
Bryant would not reveal what White had been diagnosed with, but said he often self-medicates with methamphetamine when not taking his prescription.
“Because even if you don’t have a mental illness and you’re on methamphetamine, you become paranoid, irrational, impulsive and if you take someone with mental illness, it just exacerbates that,” he told the newspaper.
[ Alabama corrections officer ‘willingly’ helped murder suspect escape: sheriff ]
White, 38, was checked out of Lauderdale County Jail on April 29 by Alabama corrections officer Vicky White, with whom he had a “special relationship,” according to the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office. Vicky White told deputies that she was taking the inmate to the courthouse for a mental health evaluation, but the pair never arrived.
Instead, they allegedly dumped Vicky White’s police cruiser and switched to a 2007 orange- or copper-colored Ford Edge with damage to the rear left bumper that she had recently purchased. That car was found Friday in a tow lot in Williamson County, Tenn., about 100 miles from the Florence, Ala., jail.
A warrant for Vicky White’s arrest was issued Monday for permitting or facilitating escape in the first degree.
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Casey White’s lawyer, who described his former client as “not a planner” and “more of an impulsive guy,” told AL.com that he believes that Vicky White planned their getaway.
Casey White, who had previously been convicted to 75 years in prison for a 2015 multi-state crime spree during which he broke into his ex-girlfriend’s house and began shooting, killing a dog, carjacked a stranger, shot another woman and eventually surrendered after a standoff with police, was awaiting trial for capital murder for the murder-for-hire stabbing death of 58-year-old Connie Ridgeway.
[ Alabama corrections officer had ‘special relationship’ with inmate she allegedly helped escape ]
Both Vicky and Casey White are considered armed and dangerous, officials said.
Casey White is listed at 6′9″ and 260 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes. His arms, chest and back are covered in tattoos, many linked to the Alabama-based white supremacist prison gang Southern Brotherhood.
Vicky White is listed at 5′5″ and 160 pounds, with brown eyes and blond or strawberry blond hair. Investigators believe she may have dyed her hair dark and could be wearing baggy men’s clothing to hide her form.
Anyone who sees either is urged not to approach them but instead call the US Marshals Service’s Communications Center at 1-800-336-0102.
A reward of up to $10,000 has been offered for information leading to Casey White’s capture and a $5,000 reward for information leading to Vicky White’s.
