Lamb McErlane Partner and Chair of the Criminal Law department Daniel R. Bush was contacted and interviewed by Brazilian News Station g1.globo on the capture of escaped convict Danelo Cavalcante.

In practice, Danelo Cavalcante’s escape should not change his sentence in the USA, but it could make life in prison worse

The Brazilian must be formally accused of these other crimes he committed since escaping from prison, but as he was already sentenced to life in prison, in practice his sentence cannot be worse.

Danelo Cavalcante, the Brazilian who escaped from a penitentiary in the state of Pennsylvania, in the United States, should be accused of new crimes, but, in practice, he is already sentenced to life imprisonment and, therefore, will not receive a harsher sentence.

“He can’t get a sentence more serious than life in prison,” says Dan Bush, a former Chester County prosecutor and now a partner with the law firm of Lamb McErlane PC, located in West Chester, Chester County, PA.

Chester County is precisely the region where the prison from which Danelo escaped on August 31st is located. He was sentenced to life in prison for killing his ex-girlfriend.

Pennsylvania state authorities carried out a large operation, with hundreds of agents, to capture the fugitive. He was arrested after two weeks. During that time, he robbed houses, a car and even exchanged gunfire with a resident.

The Brazilian must be formally accused of these other crimes he committed. After his arrest, he was taken to a maximum security prison.

No death penalty
Bush says that there is, on paper, the possibility of the death penalty in the state of Pennsylvania, but this sentence only applies in the state if the crime committed was murder, and Danelo did not commit murder after he fled.

Furthermore, although, on paper, Pennsylvania still has the possibility of the death penalty, no one has been sentenced to die in the state for decades.

Prison life
However, his life in prison is likely to get worse, Bush says. “He will be considered a prisoner who poses an escape risk, and therefore he should not have many rights while serving his sentence.”

In the prison there are some rules about what each prisoner can do, and not many will be given.

The arrest announcement
The hunt for Danelo lasted 14 days. The official announcement of the arrest was made by the governor of the state of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro. He stated that no one was injured and that there were no firearms fired. The offender suffered a minor bite from an agent’s dog, Shapiro said.

The search for the Brazilian had become a headache for hundreds of state police mobilized in the search operation, which also had support from the FBI (the American Federal Police) and the federal agency US Marshals, specialized in locating fugitives.

Danelo was taken handcuffed to a black armored truck.

The agents, equipped like soldiers, took photos and videos with the fugitive, who was wearing a gray t-shirt.

Caught by surprise

The agents wanted to catch Danelo by surprise, said Pennsylvania police Lt. Col. George Bivens. But that didn’t stop him from trying to escape: he tried to crawl through the grass with his rifle, before realizing he was surrounded.

He had the rifle he had stolen from a residence on Monday.

Escape from prison
Danelo was arrested and sentenced to life in prison in August for the stabbing murder of his ex-partner in the presence of the victim’s son, in April 2021.

To escape the prison, he managed to hide behind a wall in the courtyard and then nimbly climb two parallel walls, with his feet and hands, until he reached the ceiling.