Toxicology Report: Escaped Prisoner Richard Matt Was Drunk When Killed
ALBANY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Convicted killer Richard Matt, who busted out of an upstate prison with another inmate, was legally drunk when he was fatally shot by authorities in June, state police announced Wednesday.
Toxicology results reveal Matt had a blood alcohol level of .18 percent on June 26. An autopsy the next day determined the cause of death to be severe skull fractures and brain injuries from gunshot wounds to the head.
The convicted killer's body also had bug bites on his lower extremities, blisters and minor abrasions consistent with living in the woods for weeks, police said.
Matt, 48, and accomplice David Sweat, 35, cut through their adjoining cell walls over months at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, climbed down catwalks to tunnels, broke through a brick wall, cut into and out of a steam pipe and cut a chain holding a manhole cover outside the prison to get away, authorities said.
Authorities say prison worker Joyce Mitchell became close to the pair and agreed to be their getaway driver. But she backed out at the last moment, forcing Matt and Sweat to flee on foot after they emerged from the manhole near the maximum-security prison. They spent three weeks on the run.
Multiple law enforcement officers discovered Matt in Malone, in Franklin County, after coming to investigate gunfire that struck a camper vehicle, officials said. Matt was later shot and killed by U.S. Border Patrol.
Sweat was shot and captured two days later near the Canadian border. After being hospitalized, he was sent to a different prison.
Matt was serving 25 years to life for the killing and dismembering of his former boss. Sweat was serving a sentence of life without parole in the killing of a sheriff's deputy in Broome County in 2002.
Mitchell, who admitted to smuggling hacksaw blades in frozen hamburger meat, pleaded guilty last month to charges of first-degree promoting prison contraband, a felony, and misdemeanor fourth-degree criminal facilitation. She faces 2 1/3 years to seven years in prison.
Correction officer Gene Palmer was also arrested and accused of delivering the tools inside the frozen meat to the inmates. Authorities do not believe Palmer knew of the escape plan.
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