Lawyer urges governor not to sign fugitive’s extradition

This photo released by the Connecticut Department of Correction shows Robert Stackowitz, 71, arrested Monday, May 9, 2016 by U.S. Marshals and Connecticut State Police in Sherman, Conn., 48 years after escaping from a Georgia prison work camp. (Connecticut Department of Correction via AP) less This photo released by the Connecticut Department of Correction shows Robert Stackowitz, 71, arrested Monday, May 9, 2016 by U.S. Marshals and Connecticut State Police in Sherman, Conn., 48 years after escaping ... more Photo: Contributed Photo: Contributed Image 1 of / 6 Caption Close Lawyer urges governor not to sign fugitive’s extradition 1 / 6 Back to Gallery

SHERMAN — The lawyer for a man who spent 48 years on the lam after escaping from a Georgia prison camp has asked Gov. Dannel Malloy not to sign his client’s extradition warrant.

Norman Pattis said in a blog post this week that the fugitive, Sherman resident Robert Stackowitz, is in poor health and would not survive any additional time in prison. The lawyer said his client has “turned his life around.”

“He should be permitted to live the balance of his life in peace: Extradition may well kill him, his health is so fragile,” Pattis wrote. “And to what end? A blind and unthinking adherence to principle?”

Stackowitz, 71, was arrested last week after officials processing his Social Security application discovered a warrant for his arrest.

Federal authorities said the man, known by neighbors as Bob Gordon, escaped from Carroll County Prison Work Camp in Carrolton, Ga., in 1968. He had been convicted of robbery two years earlier and was serving a 17-year sentence.

Pattis plans to ask officials to commute the rest of the sentence because returning Stackowitz to prison could amount to a death sentence. He said his client suffers from heart failure, bladder cancer, diabetes, circulatory problems, and other health issues

“Difficulty breathing renders him unable to sleep on a bed,” the lawyer said. “He sleeps, when he can, in a recliner. The brief walk to a restroom is difficult to accomplish.”

Stackowitz, who was released after posting $75,000 bond, ran a repair business out of his home at on Route 39 South. For a time, he taught auto mechanic at the Henry Abbott Technical School in Danbury.

Pattis said refusing to sign his client’s extradition warrant is an opportunity for Malloy to show his commitment to the Second Chance Society.

“His stated goal is to reduce the number of people who go to prison unnecessarily,” the lawyer wrote.

“Don’t sign an extradition warrant, governor,” he added. “Demonstrate that the Second Chance Society is more than an empty promise.”

Pattis also said Stackowitz has already been punished.

“Why would Georgia want him back? And why would Connecticut send a man on death’s door back to Georgia?” he said. “Mr. Stackowitz lived a lifetime after his escape without incident. He’s been rehabilitated; specific deterrence has been accomplished; the two-plus years he spent in prison was punishment enough.”