By By Sheila Blackmon/The Meridian Star
Jan. 8, 2001
DECATUR Chris "Pee Wee" Cleveland is expected to be transported to the Mississippi Department of Corrections in Parchman today to serve the rest of a 17-year sentence cut short by his escape.
Cleveland was apprehended over the weekend.
Forest officials arrested 18-year-old Cleveland, who escaped last month from the Neshoba County Jail, where he awaiting sentencing. His Dec. 4 trial ended in a conviction of aggravated assault for the April 19 shooting of Cleveland McCall, the primary witness in a March drug trial that sent former Newton deputy Trellis Windham to prison. Chris Cleveland is Windham's nephew.
Police searched for Cleveland for three months after the shooting, until Union police arrested him at his mother's home in Union in July. A Newton County grand jury indicted him a week later.
Cleveland was to be sentenced by Circuit Judge Marcus Gordon the Thursday following his trial but escaped the night of his conviction. Gordon sentenced him that Friday to 17 years in prison, Knight said.
Cleveland is being held in the Neshoba County jail until he can be transported to Parchman. He is being charged by Neshoba officials with felony escape.
Sheila Blackmon is a staff writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail her at sblackmon@themeridianstar.com.