Opinion ID: 733396
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Plot To Escape

Text: 4 While Schmidt was in the custody of the New York City Department of Corrections at Rikers Island in January 1992, awaiting trial on state fraud charges, her boyfriend used a counterfeit check to obtain her release. Using more counterfeit checks, the couple went on a spending spree for luxury goods, buying jewelry, paintings, and foreign currency. 5 This criminal escapade ended on February 25 when appellant was arrested and later indicted on federal charges of conspiracy, bank fraud, and other crimes. Because of the pending state charges, she was returned to Rikers Island. Two special agents of the Department of Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Kenneth Siegler and Kenneth Connaughton, transported defendant back and forth to federal court for her appearances before United States District Court Judge John E. Sprizzo. At this time, Schmidt was, at her own request, in the mental observation unit at Rikers Island. 6 In May 1992 she began to plan a daring escape from custody. First, she contacted Annabelle Colon, another Rikers Island inmate, and asked her to hire two men to help her escape by killing the special agents while they transported her to federal court. When Colon acknowledged she had friends who could do this, Schmidt gave her detailed written and oral plans, and offered to pay Colon's friends $20,000 for their efforts. Upon Colon's later refusal to help, Schmidt turned to Nancy Vitello and Monica Odem, two other Rikers Island inmates. Schmidt gave them a letter with specific details regarding her escape plan and how she was to abscond from the country. The details included a physical description of the agents, their automobile, the route they travelled from Rikers Island to federal court, and the kinds of weapons they carried. Schmidt recommended three locations for the crimes to be committed, including a store where the agents usually bought her sodas she requested. Defendant promised to pay the hit men $100,000 each and Vitello and Odem $50,000 each. 7 Vitello called Inspector John Cuff of the United States Marshals Service on June 8 and told him of Schmidt's plan to murder the two agents. He met Vitello three days later and she handed him Schmidt's written instructions. After consulting with the United States Attorney's Office the Inspector decided to conduct an undercover investigation. He told Vitello that he would impersonate a hit man named Mike who was willing to carry out the crime. 8 After Vitello told Schmidt about Mike, Inspector Cuff (posing as Mike) received 15 phone calls from Schmidt between June 16 and June 23, 1992. Defendant gave the inspector instructions for the murders and her escape. She explained that the hit men would receive $100,000 each and that Vitello and Odem would receive $50,000 each, and that $100,000 would be given to the hit men to set aside as Schmidt's flight money. Patricia Scott, a friend of Schmidt's, would hold the money and deliver it to the hit men at a safe house. Inspector Cuff spoke to Scott twice and she told him she was holding a suitcase of Schmidt's that contained $500,000 in cash. The Inspector's phone conversations with Schmidt and Scott were tape-recorded and these recordings were later admitted into evidence at trial. 9 As per Schmidt's instructions, the murder of the agents and breakout were set for June 24, a day scheduled for Schmidt to appear in federal court. Two deputy United States Marshals posing as hit men and impersonating Special Agents Connaughton and Siegler--whom they had ostensibly murdered and whose weapons and identification they now had--picked up Schmidt at Rikers Island, handcuffed her, told her that they were the hit men she hired, and spirited her out of the Rikers Island facility. They went to the designated safe house where Schmidt showed excitement about her escape, but no remorse over the agents' purported deaths. She was arrested there. 10 A grand jury in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York indicted Schmidt on three counts: attempted murder of federal agents, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1114, 2; solicitation of three other people to murder federal officers, see 18 U.S.C. §§ 373, 2; and attempted escape from federal custody, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 751, 2. Although Schmidt had previously been found competent to stand trial in federal court in 1990 and in New York State Supreme Court in 1992, she alleged that she was not now competent to stand trial. Judge Wood conducted a hearing on November 24, 1992 examining that contention and found her competent.