Second inmate in deadly prison break sentenced to death
4 killed during 2017 escape attempt in Elizabeth City
A second man convicted in a deadly 2017 prison break in northeastern North Carolina was sentenced to death.
Following a nearly month-long jury trial in Dare County, a judge handed down the penalty Thursday against Wisezah Buckman, 36, who was charged with the murders of four Pasquotank Correctional Institute workers in a failed escape attempt in Elizabeth City on Oct. 12, 2017. The jury recommended the death sentence in three of those killings, and a life sentence in the fourth.
Buckman is the second of four inmates to face trial for the deaths of correctional officers Justin Smith and Wendy Shannon, Correction Enterprises manager Veronica Darden and mechanic Geoffrey Howe.
On Oct. 19, a jury convicted Buckman of the four counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted first-degree murder, five counts of felonious assault with intent to kill, burning a public building, felony inciting to riot, and escape from a state prison,
according to the Daily Advance in Elizabeth City.
On Thursday, the jury deliberated more than five hours before recommending death in the killings of Shannon, Smith and Howe. Jurors recommended life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Darden.
At the time of his escape attempt, Buckman was serving a 32-year sentence for second-degree murder, according to the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction website.
The riot took place in the prison’s sewing plant
and began with inmates setting a fire. The prisoners then attacked employees with hammers and screwdrivers, according to court records. Ten workers and four inmates were injured in addition to the four killed.
In October 2019, a jury in Dare County found another inmate, Mikel Brady, guilty of the four murders. He, too, was sentenced to death.
Two other prisoners are awaiting trial: Seth Frazier and Jonathan Monk. District Attorney Jeff Cruden confirmed his office also is seeking the death penalty for both.