Roseville murder suspect Eric Abril pleads not guilty to escape from custody
ROSEVILLE - Eric Abril, the accused Roseville park shooter, pleaded not guilty for his Sunday escape from Sutter Roseville Medical Center.
The Placer County District Attorney's Office requested this new charge along with a strike to the escape charge that said Abril had a prior serious or violent felony conviction. Chief Assistant District Attorney David Tellman said this came from a 2014 case where Abril dissuaded a witness by force or threat.
The escape charge alone could equal a maximum of three years, but Tellman said this punishment could be doubled to six years if the strike is found true.
Given Abril's murder charges from April, Tellman said, if convicted, he could face life in prison without parole or a special circumstance that could open the possibility of the death penalty.
Since returning to the South Placer Jail, Abril has been staying in an area alone being watched by deputies 24/7.
During Wednesday's court hearing, a bailiff was gripping Abril's arm as he stood before the judge.
"We are not happy this occurred," said Captain Nelson Resendes with the Placer County Sheriff's Office. "We are sorry this occurred."
The massive manhunt is still fresh in the community's mind as people wonder how something like this could have happened.
"We are anxious to put changes into place where changes need to be put in place," said Resendes.
On Monday, the Placer County Sheriff said Abril's inmate classification was downgraded from a two-officer move to a one-officer move, meaning Abril was only being watched by one deputy while in the hospital.
So what determines an inmate's classification? Resendes said it is multilayered.
"Criminal history, history within other facilities where they have been incarcerated, current charges, past charges, gang affiliation, ability to get along well with others," said Resendes.
Resendes said they reevaluate an inmate's classification about every 30 days.
From now on, Resendes said there will be another management oversight for every classification decision of a violent offender.
"It is not uncommon for inmates that have been arrested on violent crimes to be downgraded over many months of incident-free custody stays with us," said Resendes. "It is also not uncommon for inmates that were arrested for lesser crimes to become problematic within our custody and need to be upgraded."
Abril was taken into custody for murder and attempted murder in early April. His classification changed sometime in May.
"We are happy to see that he's alive, safe and sound and that he's back in custody," said Assistant Public Defender for Placer County Brandon Bob.
Bob did not share any details about Abril's escape but did say it came as a surprise.
"We cannot take it back, but we can do is put measures in place to see that it does not happen again," said Resendes.
There are still a lot of unknowns surrounding how Abril escaped, but Resendes said the standard protocol is to have an inmate's hands and feet restrained to the bed. In some cases, while getting treatment, an inmate may need to be unrestrained.
Bob told CBS13 that for now, the cases are just together on same date. The district attorney can decide whether to consolidate the cases and would have to make that motion. The public defender would then need to decide whether to object.
Abril will be back in court for both of his cases on August 29 at 8:30 a.m.