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| Inmates plead not guilty to escaping |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 11/29/2004 |
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Three maximum-security inmates pleaded not guilty last Monday to escaping from a prison transport van in a restaurant parking lot in September. A fourth inmate plans to enter the same plea next month, prosecutors said. The inmates, several of them convicted murderers, were among six being transported from the Crossroads Correctional Center in Shelby to the Montana State Prison at Deer Lodge on Sept. 2 when the TransCor America van stopped at a Helena restaurant for food. Four men broke out of the van through a window and two were nabbed quickly. The other two were subjects of an intense manhunt for hours before being arrested in a nearby residential neighborhood. Russell VanKirk, Brian Holliday and William Brown entered not guilty pleas last Monday to escape charges via video conference from prison. Holliday also pleaded not guilty to theft. Jasper Phillips is expected to plead not guilty to escape. Trial dates were to be announced at a later date. VanKirk and Brown are each serving 110-year sentences, VanKirk for killing bookkeeper Tamara Pengra in 1995 at State Nursery in Helena and Brown for stabbing Phil Nebeker to death in 2000 at a house in Anaconda. Holliday is serving 90 years for killing a New Mexico man at a campground near Glacier National Park, stealing his credit cards and truck and burning and burying the victim's body. Phillips is in prison for robbery and aggravated assault in Gallatin County. The state immediately suspended its $311,000 annual contract with TransCor following the escape and demanded tighter security measures for movement of inmates. The company complied and has since resumed work. |
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