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A man who escaped from the Palo Alto courthouse in 2017, sparking a 20-day manhunt, was sentenced on Wednesday to four years in prison for illegally possessing a gun at the time of his capture, according to federal prosecutors.
John Penn Bivins, Jr., 49, formerly of East Palo Alto, pleaded guilty last November to having possessed a Smith & Wesson 9mm pistol loaded with 15 rounds of ammunition at the time of his arrest at the Fairmont Inn in San Leandro, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.
Bivins and Tavis McClough were both in the Palo Alto courthouse for a hearing related to their robbery charges when they fled while being transported through a hallway on Nov. 6, 2017. The duo, who were both inmates at the Elmwood Correctional Facility, reportedly evaded a guard, ran through an emergency exit and used two waiting vehicles to escape.
Bivins narrowly avoided capture on Nov. 22, 2017 in San Joaquin County, after officers arrested McClough at a Walmart in Stockton. Bivins, who had been at a nearby gas station, fled in a Ford Explorer and tried to run over a U.S. marshal and a California Highway Patrol officer, according to the U.S. Marshals Service, which led the effort to recapture the inmates.
Days later, on Nov. 26, 2017, Bivins was spotted walking out of Fairmont Inn. He reportedly refused to respond to commands from officers, prompting them to shoot him with a Taser and bring him to the ground before arresting him.
According to a U.S. Attorney’s Office news release, Bivins admitted in his plea that he possessed a pistol at the time of his apprehension and that the pistol had been stolen. U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh gave him a sentence of 51 months for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
The sentence will run concurrently with any anticipated state court sentence arising out of the escape charge, according to the Department of Justice.
What happened to the other guy McLough and the accomplices who helped them? Why is the sentence concurrent and not consecutive? In essence that is not an addinal punishment at all.
I’ve always thought they should move that courthouse. They could build homes on that land, and move the court to a cheaper less densely populated area.
There is only a year for an escape, misdemeanor. That was a stoic sentence for possession. No one was hurt and where was there proof of this person in a robbery?