Inmate gets 40 years in Spa City escape

Term joined to one he’s now serving

HOT SPRINGS -- His escape from custody drew national attention in 2013 and prompted a monthlong manhunt, but Derrick Glenn Estell's guilty plea in the jailbreak was handled quickly late Wednesday afternoon as he avoided a trial set to begin Thursday morning in Garland County Circuit Court.

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Estell, 36, appeared before Judge Marcia Hearnsberger with court-appointed attorney Mark Fraiser and pleaded guilty to second-degree escape. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison, to run concurrently with a federal prison sentence he already is serving.

Estell was charged originally with third-degree escape, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, but the charge was amended to second-degree escape, normally punishable by up to 20 years. Because he is classified as a habitual offender with 15 felony convictions in Arkansas and Missouri, the maximum was increased to 40 years.

Prosecutors learned Wednesday that Estell was willing to plead guilty and accept the maximum, so they proceeded with a hearing that afternoon, Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Michelle Lawrence said.

Fraiser filed a motion on Estell's behalf under the speedy-trial law arguing that too much time had elapsed before he was sent to trial, but Hearnsberger denied the motion. Fraiser has appealed her decision, so Estell entered a conditional guilty plea with the understanding that if the Arkansas Court of Appeals rules in his favor on the speedy-trial argument his guilty plea can be withdrawn.

Estell escaped from the old Garland County jail on July 28, 2013, by jumping through the 12-by-30-inch service window in the booking area and fleeing to a waiting vehicle. Video of Estell's escape, captured by the jail's security cameras, was broadcast nationwide.

Estell and his girlfriend, Tamara Lynn Upshaw, 26, of Lonsdale, who was driving the getaway vehicle, were captured Aug. 22, 2013, in rural Jay, Fla., by a tactical team from the Santa Rosa County sheriff's office and the U.S. Marshals Service's fugitive task force, acting on information from the Garland County sheriff's office.

Estell was indicted on federal charges in September 2013 involving several offenses, including carjacking, bank robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Lawrence said Thursday that while Estell was in federal custody, because he had escaped before, "we were asked not to return him here" and local charges against him, including the escape, "continued to be put off and put off."

At one point Estell was transported to Florida because of several offenses he committed there while on the run, Lawrence said. Estell was returned to Garland County after completing his time in Florida and before he was returned to federal custody, according to Lawrence.

Fraiser argued the speedy-trial time limit had elapsed, but Lawrence said they had no choice in the matter.

"We knew where he was all this time and issued pickup orders for him, but he remained in custody there," she said. "It was out of our control, and the judge ruled in our favor."

Estell's mother, Glenda Sue Estell, 57, of Hot Springs pleaded guilty Jan. 19 to a misdemeanor count of hindering apprehension or prosecution, reduced from an original felony charge of assisting or furnishing implements of escape, for her part in helping her son get away. She was sentenced to one year of unsupervised probation, fined $500 and ordered to pay $170 in court costs.

Upshaw pleaded guilty March 9, 2015, to assisting in or furnishing an implement of escape for her part in the 2013 escape and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Derrick Estell was arrested in Hot Springs on March 7, 2013, after authorities said he stole a pickup at gunpoint and led police on a pursuit that ended when he wrecked the pickup and fled into a residential area. He was taken into custody after a standoff at an apartment building that night.

Lawrence said Thursday that Estell faced additional charges in Garland County, including aggravated residential burglary in a home invasion Feb. 7, 2013, on Hamilton Dairy Road.

His co-defendant, Larry Dewayne Hulsey, 41, of Hot Springs pleaded guilty April 13, 2015, to a reduced charge of residential burglary and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

State Desk on 02/12/2016

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