New Orleans jail worker thought he was unclogging a toilet, not helping 10 escape, lawyer says

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Ten men who broke out of a New Orleans jail last week clogged a toilet to get the water shut off so that they could escape through a hole behind it, a lawyer for a maintenance worker who is charged with helping them said Wednesday.

The worker, Sterling Williams, did not know about the men's plan and did not allow the inmates to cut a pipe behind the toilet to create an opening for their escape, attorney Michael Kennedy told The Associated Press.

The defense attorney laid out a very different narrative than that presented by authorities a day earlier, when Williams, 33, was arrested.

Authorities have said an inmate instructed Williams to turn off the water to a toilet, leading to one of the largest jailbreaks in recent U.S. history. Five of the men remained at large Wednesday.

Kennedy told the AP that after a deputy called Williams to fix a toilet, he found it overflowing.

“This was clearly all part of an orchestrated plan,” Kennedy said. Williams “was nothing more than the tool they used to turn off the water which they knew would have to happen after clogging the toilet.”

According to an arrest affidavit that made no mention of a clogged toilet, Williams was “initially very evasive and untruthful” during an interview but ultimately told investigators that an inmate had threatened to “shank” him if he did not turn off the water. Williams could have reported the threat and the escape plan, authorities have said. They asserted that because Williams turned the water off, the inmates were “able to successfully make good” on their escape, the affidavit said.

Kennedy said Williams did not report the escape because he was “not aware” it was happening. The lawyer also addressed authorities’ statements that his client was threatened into helping the escape.

“He was not aware that there was going to be an escape,” Kennedy said. “He was not conspiring with them. He had no knowledge that he was being used.”

A message was left seeking comment from the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office about Kennedy’s remarks. The sheriff said Tuesday that she believes the escape was an inside job.

Inmate Antoine Massey, who approached Williams and said he would “shank” him as he was doing his maintenance work, was “just talking to talk” and not intimidating the maintenance worker, Kennedy said.

“Everyone seems to have leaped on that, saying he was acting out of fear. No,” Kennedy said. “Yes, someone said they would shank him. They didn’t say it in a particularly threatening manner. They said it more as an aside.”

Kennedy said the cell with the clogged toilet was for disabled inmates and should never have been in use. “No one should have been in this cell to begin with,” he said. “This cell should have been locked down.”

“It would seem obvious to me that filling up the toilet, clogging the toilet, was a portion of the escapees' plan,” Kennedy said. “They would know that whoever the maintenance person was would have to turn off the water … because it was overflowing.”

Kennedy said he was only able to meet with Williams for around 30 minutes via Zoom. He did not ask Williams whether he had finished unclogging the toilet, whether he turned the water back on, or how long he was inside the cell.

Williams did not know the name of the deputy who told him to fix the clogged toilet, Kennedy said.

Williams is worried about his safety and his future, his lawyer said. He is being held in a different facility in a separate parish.

“The most important thing I’ve learned is that these charges are ridiculous and the sheriff’s office is trying to use him as a scapegoat to minimize their own embarrassment,” Kennedy said. “He did nothing more than the job they pay him to do and now they’re attempting to sacrifice him for it.”

Williams is charged with 10 counts of principal to simple escape and one count of malfeasance in office.

Also Wednesday, authorities arrested two people accused of helping some of the escapees. Cortnie Harris, 32, of New Orleans, and Corvanntay Baptiste, 38, of Slidell, are each charged with one felony count of being an accessory after the fact, according to a Louisiana State Police news release.

They were booked into the Plaquemines Parish Detention Center. Online jail records did not indicate whether either woman had a lawyer who could comment on the charges.

An initial investigation showed that Harris was in touch by phone with an escapee who’s still on the run and transported two escapees who still haven’t been caught to multiple locations in New Orleans, the release said. Investigators said Baptiste had been in contact by phone and social media with Corey Boyd, who has since been recaptured, and helped him get food while he was hiding.

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Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.