FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.—A man who escaped from an Arizona prison and later was captured after a shootout with police in western Colorado won’t face any charges as a result of the prison break.
A Mohave County judge has dismissed a single escape charge against Daniel Renwick, who was one of three inmates who fled from the prison near Kingman last July. Chief Deputy County Attorney Jace Zack agreed to drop the charge if Renwick received a sentence of at least 58 years stemming from the Aug. 1 shootout.
Authorities said Renwick fired shots at them during a three-mile chase in and near the town of Rifle, about 180 miles west of Denver. Officers said the 37-year-old Renwick also rammed his SUV into a patrol car.
Renwick pleaded guilty in March to two counts of first-degree attempted murder in the Colorado case. He was sentenced last month to 60 years behind bars.
If he completes that sentence, he will be returned to the custody of the Arizona Department of Corrections to continue serving his time on a second-degree murder conviction.
Zack said he will not refile the escape charge that was dismissed without prejudice unless the Colorado sentence is reduced or vacated. The maximum sentence Renwick could have received on the felony charge in Arizona was less than four years, Zack said.
“I felt that 58 years there—he’s going to die there—was adequate,” Zack said Wednesday.
Renwick, John McCluskey and Tracy Province broke out of the medium-security jail with the help of Casslyn Welch, who threw cutting tools over the prison’s perimeter fence.
Renwick was the first of the group to be captured.
The dismissal of his case means that McCluskey is the only one left with outstanding charges in Arizona. McCluskey is awaiting a June trial on charges of escape, kidnapping, aggravated assault and armed robbery.
McCluskey, Welch and Province also face federal charges in the deaths of an Oklahoma couple who authorities say were killed during the escapees’ run from the law.
