HARRISBURG, Pa. — Note: The video is from August 30.
The Pennsylvania Superior Court has thrown out Danelo Cavalcante’s appeal of his first-degree murder conviction, ruling that his 2023 escape from a Chester County Prison and subsequent two weeks on the run caused him to miss a deadline to file a post-sentencing appeal, thereby technically waiving his right to have the court consider his arguments for having his conviction overturned.
In a seven-page order issued Tuesday, Judge Timika Lane wrote that even though Cavalcante's attorney filed paperwork related to his appeal, case law states "a defendant who voluntarily escapes from confinement, and deliberately chooses to become a fugitive from justice, may forfeit the right to appellate review.”
According to Lane's review of the case, Cavalcante’s attorney filed a notice of appeal on Sept. 1, 2023 -- one day after her client made a brazen escape from prison by "crab-walking" his way up an outdoor set of walls in the facility's exercise yard. He then climbed onto a roof and escaped.
Common Pleas Court Judge Patrick Carmody issued a ruling denying the notice of appeal on the same day it was filed, Lane noted.
Cavalcante was captured by authorities on September 13, 2023, after a two-week manhunt by multiple law enforcement agencies.
Following his capture, Cavalcante's lawyer filed a formal appeal of Carmody's ruling on September 29.
But Lane argued that because Cavalcante had deliberately decided to "bypass the orderly procedures afforded to one convicted of a crime for challenging his conviction," he was not entitled to have the initial appeal stop the 30-day clock for filings.
So, Lane ruled, even though Cavalcante's attorney filed a notice of appeal on Sept. 29, it should have been filed by Sept. 21 -- 30 days after he was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 2021 murder of his ex-girlfriend.
By escaping, Lane said, Cavalcante gave up the timely nature of his appeal and ordered it quashed.
Cavalcante staged his escape while waiting to be transferred from Chester County Prison to a state prison. He had been sentenced days earlier for stabbing his ex-girlfriend 38 times, killing her. Cavalcante is also wanted in connection to another murder in his native country of Brazil.
In August of this year, Cavalcante pleaded guilty to charges relating to his 2023 escape. As part of a negotiated plea deal, he received an additional 15 years in state prison tacked on to the mandatory life without parole sentence he's serving for murder.