Tyler

By CASEY KNAUPP
Staff Writer

A Tyler man serving a 60-year-prison sentence for a drug conviction tried to escape from Smith County sheriff deputies Thursday night but was quickly captured.

Rickie Dawson York, 39, was a convicted felon on parole when he was sentenced to prison in March for possessing methamphetamine in Bullard.

On June 25, he was brought back to Smith County from an Amarillo prison for a court hearing in which 241st District Judge Jack Skeen Jr. appointed him a new appellate attorney. He was then housed in the Kaufman County Jail, awaiting transportation back to prison.

At about 10:50 p.m. Thursday, Smith County sheriff deputies were transporting York back to the Smith County Jail from Kaufman County so he could catch a bus to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice this morning, Smith County Chief Deputy Gary Pinkerton said.

After the deputies pulled into the sally port of the jail, York managed to free his hands from the handcuffs and took off running, he said. After a brief chase, he was apprehended by officers and taken into the jail.

York was transported back to prison this morning, but not before he acquired a new criminal charge — escape, which is a third-degree felony that carries a sentence of two to 20 years in prison.

York pleaded guilty to possessing 1.46 grams of meth on Oct. 16. A Smith County jury sentenced him to 60 years on March 5.

The third-degree felony, which carries a punishment range of two to 10 years in prison, was enhanced to a first-degree, with a possible sentence of 25 years to life in prison, because of his two prior felony convictions. York will have to serve 15 years before he is eligible for parole.

Rickie Dawson York
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