CHARLESTON, W.Va. — After nearly six hours of deliberation on Monday, a 12-member Kanawha County jury reached a guilty verdict in a jail escape trial.
Following closing arguments in front of Kanawha Circuit Judge Tod Kaufman, the jury found Todd Boyes, 45 of Caldwell, Ohio, guilty of escaping from the South Central Regional Jail on Oct. 25, 2017.
Boyes walked out of the jail that day where he wasn’t noticed missing for two days. Boyes was eventually arrested in Texas, after being driven to the border by his mother.
J.C. MacCallum, a Kanawha assistant prosecutor, told the jury Monday morning during closings that Boyes had changed clothes to make it look like he wasn’t an inmate. He said that’s not how an inmate would normally be released from jail.
“They don’t put on street clothes, they don’t disguise themselves, they don’t rush out down some steps out of a door and walk out of the front door. That’s not how you leave the jail as an inmate,” MacCallum said.
Surveillance video was shown to the courtroom that saw Boyes dressed in a dark-colored top and brown pants walk out of the cell area, through the doors, into the main lobby, and out of the doors. Three correctional officers were charged in connection with the escape.
Boyes’ attorney, Michael Payne, claimed that Boyes was essentially released from jail and allowed to walk free. He said his client was not at fault, because the state was.
“The state is in the situation where they need you to place the blame on Todd Boyes,” Payne said to the jury during closing arguments.
“They want you to let them off the hook for having a jail where doors are allowed to be opened, people are allowed to walk around freely, phones are not working.”
Boyes has been serving time at the Mount Olive State Prison for separate charges. He was sentenced in December 2017 to a 5 to 25-year prison term for fleeing police, possessing a stolen vehicle and causing bodily injury.
In that incident, Boyes led several dozen Charleston Police officers on a pursuit that lasted around 45 minutes. It ended when Boyes rammed a stolen vehicle into a Charleston PD cruiser and sent an officer to the hospital.
He will now spend another five years in jail for the escape charge.
The jury reached a verdict just after 4:00 p.m. after going behind closed doors at 10:30 a.m. and being issued an Allen Charge by Kauffman.