(NewsNation) — Casey White’s claim that he killed someone while on the run last year after escaping an Alabama jail may be White trying to show a pattern wherein he falsely confesses to murders, criminal defense attorney Peter Tragos explained during an appearance on “NewsNation Now.”
“I understand that maybe there are some false confessions in the past that they’re going to try to show a pattern here that he falsely confesses to murderers for whatever reason. That may help them in an upcoming trial,” Tragos said.
News of Casey White’s “confession” emerged Wednesday. During a previous phone call with NewsNation senior national correspondent Brian Entin, Casey White claimed he killed a woman in Indiana.
“I got a woman and a baby girl buried up in Evansville, Indiana,” White told Entin.
Casey White insists he killed a woman while he was hiding at a motel in the Evansville area.
Evansville Police believe Casey White is lying and said there were no missing women being investigated during the time of the escape. White’s attorney, Robert Tuten, told Entin he thinks his client’s claims are “highly unlikely.”
Tragos says the “confession” places White’s attorney in a difficult position.
“I think it’s always difficult, especially as a criminal defense attorney, to say anything about what your client does, what they say, especially of their own accord,” Tragos said. “So, it’s difficult to say he wasn’t telling the truth.”
White’s trial connected to the 2015 stabbing death of Connie Ridgeway is set to begin in August. He previously admitted to the killing, but later recanted his confession.
“We have him reaching out to Brian on a recorded line that he knew was recorded because all jail calls are recorded and made this statement,” Tragos said. “In this case, I think it can be argued he did it on purpose or he did it to try to create some kind of pattern that can be used in a current murder trial. Dealing with this false confession is very different than the false confession they’re probably dealing with in the actual trial.”
Tragos believes based on the information available now, White “probably was not telling the truth” to Entin.
“When we look at the fact that there’s nothing really corroborating a crime like this happening in this area, where he confessed that crime pretty specifically with a woman and a baby girl, that is something that I would think at this point would have been found as a missing persons or some kind of open investigation at this point. And because there’s nothing of that sort, I would lean, you know, with his defense team and with local law enforcement at this point, saying that he probably was not telling the truth when he made that confession,” Tragos said.
White was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday linked to his escape from an Alabama jail last year with help from his corrections officer lover, who later died.