Denouement

The not-so-great escape of Ralph "Bucky" Phillips reached its ignominious end today in a courtroom where the career criminal was charged with eight offenses. Authorities have yet to charge him with the murder of a New York State trooper, Joseph Longobardo. Murder of a police officer in New York is eligible for the death penalty. All his threats and all his crimes came as a result of an escape from prison when he had less than one week left on his sentence. Bucky isn't known as "Brainy" for a reason, obviously.

Ralph "Bucky" Phillips, who once threatened to "splatter pig meat all over Chautauqua County" in upstate New York and was on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List, was charged in Chemung County with eight counts, including attempted aggravated murder, first-degree attempted murder and second-degree attempted murder, all in connection with the shooting of a state trooper in June.

Phillips, 44, did not enter a plea.

Dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit, the exhausted and unshaven suspect either looked at the floor or closed his eyes during the 12-minute arraignment. He was shackled at the ankles, with his wrists handcuffed, and was flanked by armed guards. Earlier in the day, he was turned over to state police after appearing before a federal judge in Buffalo.

"He will get his day in court, and he will be held accountable," said District Attorney John Trice.

Phillips, a career thief who has spent 20 of the past 23 years in state prison, surrendered Friday night, five months after police said he used a can opener to cut his way through a jail ceiling. The arrest capped one of the state's largest manhunts in history after a frantic day that included troopers firing at Phillips as he hid in woods.

Officials said Phillips will be kept in a special section of the county jail and will stay in Chemung County for now. Erie County Sheriff Timothy Howard said Phillips spent an uneventful night in an isolation cell and was under constant supervision. He said he had no plans to speak with him.

"I feel nothing but contempt and disgust for the man," Howard said.

A hearty second to that emotion, Sheriff. It's time to forget Bucky's very name. He will never breath free air again.