Casey White.Photo:Dan Busey/The TimesDaily via AP

Casey White arrives at the Lauderdale County Courthouse for a sentence hearing in Florence, Ala., Thursday, June 8 2023.

Dan Busey/The TimesDaily via AP

Casey White, the Alabama prisonerwho escaped jail last yearwith the help of a correction officer, was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Thursday.ABC Newsreported the 39-year-old prisoner told the Lauderdale County courtroom that he didn’t want Vicky White — the corrections officer who helped him escape and later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound as police were closing in on them — to be dragged “through the dirt.”

The two were not related, but were reportedly involved in a romantic relationship, leading to the aided escape and an 11-day manhunt that ended in a car chase in Evansville, Ind.

Police say Vicky, 56, shot herself after crashing a Cadillac she was driving Casey in while evading authorities, PEOPLE previouslyreported. Casey told investigators he did not fire the bullet that killed her.“We just wanted a new life together because she knew the truth,” he said at his sentencing, according to ABC. “I can handle the truth because I know who I am. I chose this road. It’s cost me my life and freedom.”

Casey White.Dan Busey/The TimesDaily via AP

Casey White arrives at the Lauderdale County Courthouse for a sentence hearing in Florence, Ala., Thursday, June 8 2023.

Casey was originally arrested in 2020 on two counts of capital murder for allegedly killing 59-year-old Connie Jane Ridgeway, who was found dead in her Rogersville, Ala., living room back in October of 2015.

Casey White and Vicky White.U.S. Marshals Service via AP; Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

This image provided by the U.S. Marshals Service on Sunday, May 1, 2022 shows part of a wanted poster for Casey Cole White. On Sunday, the U.S. Marshals announced it is offering up to $10,000 for information about escaped inmate Casey Cole White, 38, and a “missing and endangered” correctional officer, Vicky White, 56, who disappeared Friday after they left the Lauderdale County Detention Center in Florence, Ala. (U.S. Marshals Service via AP); This photo provided by Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office shows Assistant Director of Corrections Vicki White. The Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office in said in a Facebook post Saturday, April 30, 2022, that White disappeared while escorting an inmate being held on capital murder charges. The inmate is also missing. ( Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

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Vicky then helped him escape, telling authorities at the jail that she was bringing the inmate to court for a mental health evaluation. However, no such appointment had been scheduled and police soon realized she aided his escape. The corrections officer had just recently filed paperwork for retirement and sold her house the month before.

White pleaded guilty to the escape and in exchange will not face a felony murder charge related to Vicky’s death, according to ABC. He was given a maximum sentence of life without parole and still faces charges in the Ridgeway murder trial.

source: people.com