LeFevre Gets Probation For Prison Escape

A rational and thoughtful judge has given Susan Lefevre probation for her breakout from prison back in the 70's.
To serve out drug sentence

BY CECIL ANGEL
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Susan LeFevre, the woman who bolted from a state prison in Northville Township in 1976 and was captured in April in California where she was living a new life, got a break Tuesday when a Wayne County judge offered her probation for the escape charge.

During LeFevre's arraignment Tuesday in Wayne County Circuit Court, Judge Leonard Townsend, who created a legal uproar when he changed the conditions of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's bond in his perjury case, surprised the defense attorney and the prosecution with a Cobb evaluation.

In a Cobb evaluation, the judge determines what sentence the defendant might receive if he or she pleads guilty. Usually, the defendant requests the evaluation, but Townsend took it upon himself to conduct one in LeFevre's case.

Attorney William Swor said his client was prepared to plead not guilty and fight the escape charge.

"Nobody told us this was going to happen," he said. "The judge said 'enough is enough.' It certainly was an injection of rationality into the process."

For now, LeFevre still must complete her 10- to 20-year sentence on her drug conviction from the 1970s.

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