Lawyer for Man on the Lam for 48 Years Seeks Pardon: Update

Update: High-profile Connecticut Attorney Norm Pattis said he will represent Robert Stackowitz and is seeking a sentence commutation and a pardon for any crimes related to his escape nearly 50 years ago.

Pattis will seek a commutation from Georgia Governor Nathan Deal. He argues that the goal of incarceration is rehabilitation and that Stakowitz' quiet 48 years proves he has been successfully rehabilitated.

Stackowitz also has several health problems including congestive heart disease, bladder cancer, diabetes and a history of kidney failure. Being sent back to the Georgia prison system would effectively be a death sentence, Pattis said.

His original 1960's "lightning fast" trial had few rights observed, Pattis added.

Original story: A man who escaped a Georgia prison work camp in the 1960's was captured in a small Connecticut town.

Prison escapee Robert Stackowitz spent nearly half a century on the run after the Aug. 22, 1968 escape from from the infirmary at the Carroll County Prison Work Camp in Carrolton, GA.

He was serving a 17-year sentence for robbery by force, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

Georgia Department of Corrections investigators assigned to the U.S. Marshals Service Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force uncovered a possible alias for Stackowitz and linked it to an address in Sherman, Connecticut.

Sherman is the least populous town in Fairfield County with a population of about 3,500.

Stackowitz used his real name in Connecticut after he applied for social security benefits, according to the News-Times. He went by Robert Gordon and ran a boat repair business.

Marshals and State Police in Connecticut located Stackowitz and took him into custody without incident Monday.

He is currently in a state jail facility and is awaiting extradition to Georgia. He was held in lieu of $75,000 bail and is next due in court on June 6.

Image via Georgia Department of Corrections