The attorney representing Kendall Q. Northern on escape charges said her client, an inmate liked and trusted by his captors, fled the Duchesne County Jail because he feared for his life.
Northern was being held in protective custody in the jail when he escaped on a jury-rigged motorcycle in October 1988. He was captured after his case was featured on the television how, "America's Most Wanted."He is on trial on charges of third-degree felony escape before an eight-member jury in 3rd District Court. He was serving a five-year-to-life term after being convicted as an accomplice in the 1980 robbery-murder of a Salt Lake cab driver.
Northern had testified against his co-defendant in the case, Robert Alan Phillips, and that's why defense attorney Elizabeth Bowman said he was a marked man.
"Every single inmate out there (at the state prison) would like to have at him, to do ugly things to him because he testified against his partner and is now considered a snitch," she said in opening statements Tuesday.
Deputy Salt Lake County Attorney Richard Shepherd said the reason he escaped is immaterial.
"I don't believe this case is going to be all that complicated," Shepherd said. "In fact it will be rather simple. On Oct. 9, 1988 the defendant escaped from the Duchesne County Jail."