Inmate sentenced to life in prison

By By Georgia E. Frye / staff writer
April 10, 2003
A man being held on kidnapping, forcible rape, sexual battery and felony escape charges was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday, one day after he escaped from custody.
Kenny Wayne Herrington was being escorted Tuesday from the Lauderdale County jail to the county courthouse when he broke free from law enforcement officers and ran to Union Station.
Sheriff's deputies, Meridian police officers and state corrections officers caught Herrington a few minutes later.
Maj. Ward Calhoun with the Lauderdale Sheriff's Department said Herrington waived his rights to a sentencing hearing on Wednesday after he plead guilty to the felony escape charge.
Calhoun said Herrington asked the judge to give him life in prison without parole. The judge agreed and Herrington was sent to the Rankin County state prison to begin his sentence.