David Sweat Pleads Guilty on Escape and Contraband Charges

Life in prison — and then some. That is David Sweat's fate. The 35-year-old pleaded guilty Friday for his prison escape and three-week manhunt, that terrorized New York's North Country in June. Time Warner Cable News' Geoff Redick was in court and has details.

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – In Clinton County Court Wednesday, District Attorney Andrew Wylie made sure that David Sweat knew the full penalty for his three-weeks on the run.

"Three-and-a-half to seven years, on each count," he said.

But for a dangerous man already imprisoned for life, without chance of parole, Wylie says another simple prison term is not enough.

"We don’t have the death penalty in New York State," Wylie said. "What are you going to do with somebody that commits this type of crime?"

"He decided to take responsibility for his actions," said Joe Mucia, Sweat's defense attorney.

Mucia says Sweat is already serving a harsh penalty: seven years' solitary confinement in prison.

"He is not enjoying it," Mucia said. "It's a small room with no windows. He has about one hour of recreation every day."

Wylie proposed that Sweat's solitary confinement be made permanent. And then there is restitution: almost $80,000 for the damage caused by the prison escape. If sentenced to pay it all, Sweat would likely never fulfill the total amount.

And even so, there is no way to make him pay back the millions more spent on his manhunt and capture.

"No. Not under the penal law, there isn't," Wylie confirmed.

Some four-and-a-half months since the prison escape ended, there is no real benefit for anyone: Taxpayers are still out millions of dollars; Sweat is still locked up. But at least life in Clinton County, according to Wylie, has returned to normal.

"Everybody's been very grateful and supportive of our work in this case, from day one," he said. "And to me, that means a lot."

Sweat will be sentenced here in Plattsburgh on February 3, after which we may never see him again. Meanwhile, his attorney says Sweat is appealing his current prison-imposed sentence of seven years locked up alone.