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Fugitive’s run lasts 19 hours By SUE WATSON
Staff Writer  | Photos by Sue Watson
Back in custody
Kelly
McMillen (right) books Latrell Wilson at the Marshall County Jail after
his capture. At far left is jail administrator Bobby Harris. |
Authorities
caught up with Latrell Wilson, 20, who escaped from the Marshall County
Courtroom Tuesday of last week, in less than 24 hours, according to
sheriff Kenny Dickerson. Wilson will not be staying in the
county jail long. Dickerson said he is being sent to Rankin County
where the Mississippi Department of Corrections will take over the
man’s custody. Wilson fled the courtroom August 31 shortly after
4 p.m. when he was allowed to go to the bathroom. He was not restrained
because court rules and policies do not allow a defendant who is free
on bond to be restrained in the presence of the jury. The saga
began with Wilson due in court Tuesday of last week for a jury trial,
facing charges of participating in a burglary in the Wall Hill
community in 2009, Dickerson said. Wilson was late for his court
appointment because he attempted overdosing with Tylenol the day before
his court date, according to the sheriff. Authorities learned the
whereabouts of Wilson and brought him to court wearing blue jeans, a
white T-shirt and shoes he had been given at the medical facility. Late
in the day after the jury was seated, Wilson decided to change his plea
to guilty. Judge Robert Elliott sentenced him to 15 years, six years
suspended and nine years to be served. Elliott and circuit court clerk
Lucy Carpenter then went into the judge’s chambers where the sentencing
orders were being made ready to sign, Carpenter said. “We had
started the jury trial, the jury had been selected, the judge had sent
the jury home for the day and Mr. Wilson had pled guilty,” she said.
“Judge Elliott had ordered him transported immediately. Everyone left
the room except sheriff’s deputies and the defendant. “The next thing, we heard a commotion and he had jumped the rail and run down the center aisle with deputies in pursuit.” Carpenter imagined Wilson taking leave “like a gazelle.” Election
commissioners Marie Palmer and Betty Whaley were inside the election
commissioners’ room when Wilson bolted through the courtroom back door
and scaled down the stairway. “I didn’t see it,” Carpenter
said. “I was in chambers with the judge discussing what we were going
to do tomorrow and getting his order signed to immediately transport
when I heard the thud when he jumped. It had taken all day to seat a
jury for his trial. He was a no-show earlier in the morning, had
overdosed on Tylenol, was taken to the hospital and then released.
Wilson was on bond when he made his appearance in court, not in the
custody of the sheriff’s office.” Carpenter said Wilson was
charged with burglary and a co-defendant had already been sentenced and
was going to testify against Wilson. Palmer said Wilson flew down the stairs so fast, she didn’t think his feet hit the stairs but a time or two.  | Photo by Barry Burleson
Searching from the air
A helicopter from DeSoto County participated in the search. |
Sheriff’s
deputies and Holly Springs police officers pursued Wilson, who fled to
the area near Elder Avenue in the Chulahoma Avenue area west of Craft
Street, where he allegedly entered a house and tried unsuccessfully to
take a lady hostage. He subsequently fled out the back door of her
house and continued evading authorities, who had called out the police
dogs for a manhunt. The DeSoto County helicopter began surveilling the
perimeter around 5 p.m. and a SWAT team was assembled. Officers fanned
out trying to set up a search perimeter. Wilson was believed to
have escaped to the Cedar Hill area, perhaps to have entered a dry
creek bed, then fled and crossed Highway 78 near the Marianna/Peyton
road area. By nightfall, authorities were still searching the
area near Marianna and Wall Hill roads where Wilson’s grandmother was
said to live and where he was believed to have stayed at times,
Dickerson said. Wilson was arrested in DeSoto County on Highway
305 outside Lewisburg and heading into Olive Branch around 11:15 a.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 1, Dickerson said. He was a passenger in a vehicle
driven by an acquaintance and had been lying down in the backseat but
not under cover, the sheriff said. Wilson was taken into custody without incident and had nothing to say, Dickerson said. “He was extremely quiet,” the sheriff said. Wilson,
whose address in his court file was listed in the 700 block of Wall
Hill Road, Byhalia, was searched and being processed by noon Wednesday
at the county jail. Dickerson said Judge Elliott had rescinded
Wilson’s sentence of 15 years and ordered Wilson to serve the full 25
years allowed by law for burglary. Wilson will also be charged with
felony escape and with burglary, the sheriff said. Dickerson said Wilson had help from some friends after he escaped the courtroom. “He
was well acquainted with all the area,” he said. “We know he made it to
Marianna last night, then on toward Wall Hill Road where he had stayed
some with his grandmother. He had inside information and help and we
also had inside information and help to counter it.” Wilson was
believed to have spent part of the night at his grandmother’s house on
Wall Hill Road before leaving in a vehicle Wednesday morning of last
week in an effort to go to an apartment in Olive Branch. The individuals who assisted Wilson in his flight may be charged, Dickerson said. Dickerson
said the victim in the Wall Hill burglary in which Wilson’s
codefendants struck a retired police officer and burglarized her home
lived not far away from Wilson’s grandmother’s house. Sheriff
Dickerson said he appreciates sheriff’s department officers, who along
with himself, worked tirelessly in the apprehension of Wilson. He also
thanked officers with the Holly Springs Police Department, the Byhalia
Police Department, the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Department, the Olive
Branch Police Department, the Mississippi Department of Corrections and
the U.S. Marshal’s Office for the excellent teamwork “which always
proves to be effective in the apprehension of criminals.”
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