A convicted murderer who fled from jail on a motorcycle he fixed has been arraigned in 3rd Circuit Court on a second-degree felony charge of escape.
Kendall Q. Northern, 27, is charged with escaping from the Duchesne County Jail a year ago. He is scheduled to appear Nov. 15 in circuit court in Sandy.Before his escape, Northern had earned trustee status at the jail and was considered a model inmate. He did odd jobs around the facility and was well-liked by jailers, who allowed him to work on a motorcycle in a garage.
On Oct. 9, he entered the garage, strapped an oversized battery on the rear fender, jammed a screwdriver into the ignition switch and rode away.
Northern was arrested on the escape charge in August after his case was aired on America's Most Wanted, a nationally syndicated TV program that profiles fugitives.
Northern was convicted of being an accomplice in the shooting death and robbery of a 33-year-old taxicab driver in 1980. The gunman in that incident, Robert Alan Phillips, is serving a life sentence for the crime.