A Pennsylvania state court ruled that a convicted killer who escaped from a Chester County jail has forfeited his right to appeal his original life sentence. Danilo Cavalcante escaped while waiting to be transferred to state prison to serve a life sentence for killing his ex-girlfriend. He was captured two weeks later after a national manhunt. While he was a fugitive, his attorneys filed a motion challenging the evidence and certain aspects of his sentence in the murder case. However, the court ruled that the motion was legally invalid because fugitives in Pennsylvania forfeit such rights while they are on the run. This affected the deadline for Cavalcante’s attorneys to appeal his life-without-parole murder sentence. The original deadline remained intact, and Cavalcante’s subsequent appeal came eight days too late. In August, Cavalcante pleaded guilty to escape and was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in addition to his life sentence without parole.
Killer’s escape from Pennsylvania jail costs him his right to appeal life sentence
