Life Term For Iowa Jail Escapee Who Killed Deputy: 'In Reality, I Liked Him'

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA — The man who pleaded guilty to killing an Iowa sheriff's deputy during a jail escape was sentenced to life in prison with no chance for parole and apologized to the deputy's family, saying he liked the officer and didn't intend to kill him.

Wesley Correa-Carmenaty was sentenced Tuesday after changing his pleas to guilty to first-degree murder, attempted murder, escape, kidnapping and other crimes. His trial was slated to begin Tuesday, but his attorney informed authorities last week that Correa-Carmenaty would change his plea in Pottawattamie County District Court in Council Bluffs.

"The reason for the sentence is pretty simple — to guarantee that the defendant will spend the rest of his life in prison," Judge James Heckerman said. "It's clear... that he's an extreme threat to society."

Correa-Carmenaty, who used a Spanish interpreter, showed little emotion throughout the hearing, smiling and nodding as he entered pleas to each count. (For more information on this and other Iowa stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Correa-Carmenaty was sentenced May 1 to 45 years in prison in an unrelated murder case and was being taken from the courthouse to the Pottawattamie County Jail when the fatal assault occurred, officials said.

Correa-Carmenaty was in handcuffs and leg shackles as he was being transported in a jail van, but managed to unlock them by the time the van reached the jail, authorities said. Pottawattamie County Attorney Matthew Wilber explained publicly for the first time in court Tuesday that Correa-Carmenaty managed to unlock the shackles by hiding a handcuff key obtained from another inmate in his hair. He was also armed with a handmade shank formed from a toothbrush, which he used to slash Deputy Mark Burbridge in the face, neck and arms during the attack, then managed to get into the cab of the van and grab a service weapon, killing Burbridge and wounding Deputy Pat Morgan. Burbridge died and Morgan survived.

Wilber said Correa-Carmenaty took both deputies' guns, ammunition and the keys to the van, then drove the transport van through a jail garage door, abandoning it a few blocks away. He tried to carjack a truck, shooting and wounding a man inside it, then carjacked a woman and drove across the state border into Omaha, Nebraska, where he let the woman go, authorities said. He was arrested there a short time later after crashing during a high-speed chase with police

Three of Burbridge's children spoke at the hearing, each of them labeling Correa-Carmenaty "a monster," and fighting tears as they described their father as a loving parent.

Correa-Carmenaty apologized to Burbridge's family, saying he had liked Burbridge.

"In reality, I liked him. He was one of the people who would ask you, 'How is your case going?'" he said through the interpreter, who appeared to be fighting her own emotions as she relayed Correa-Carmenaty's words. "It was not intentional. I was trying to escape."

By MARGERY BECK, Associated Press

Photos credit: Woodbury County Jail via AP; Tim Hynds/Sioux City Journal via AP; Kent Sievers/The World-Herald via AP