WEST CHESTER — Danelo S. Cavalcante, the convicted murderer and former fugitive whose escape from Chester County Prison last summer made headlines across the country, has a new attorney.
Lonny Fish, a self-described seasoned criminal defense and personal injury attorney from Philadelphia who has limited experience in Chester County Common Pleas Court, entered his appearance on behalf of Cavalcante on May 6.
On Wednesday, he appeared before Judge Allison Bell Royer, who is presiding over Cavalcante’s case involving escape, burglary, theft and firearms offenses stemming from his flight from justice, and asked that the case be formally continued until her next trial term, June 26. He indicated, however, that he did not intend to bring the case to trial and was not planning on filing pre-trial motions.
Fish, a 2005 graduate of the Temple University School of Law, will replace First Assistant Public Defender Susanna DeWese, who represented the Brazilian native at his preliminary hearing in February, in which he was ordered held for trial on multiple counts.
He could not be immediately contacted for comment.
The change in attorneys raises a question as to who might be funding his legal defense. Cavalcante was represented by the Chester County Public Defender’s Office as an indigent client not only in his escape case but also in the first-degree murder cases that brought him to the attention of county law enforcement authorities in the first place.
He has no visible income, having been incarcerated since 2021.
In August, Cavalcante was sentenced to life in prison plus 2½ to 5 years for the April 2021 murder of his girlfriend, Deborah Brandao, whom he stabbed dozens of times in front of her two young children outside their home in Schuylkill. The jury took less than 15 minutes before returning their verdict.
He fled the area briefly after the attack but was captured in Virginia and brought back to stand trial. He was housed at the Chester County Prison awaiting trial for more than two years.
Then, on Aug. 31, as he was awaiting transport to the state prison system to begin serving his mandatory life sentence, Cavalcante scaled an outside wall of the prison in a recreation yard. He made his way to the roof of the facility and then escaped after a corrections officer failed to spot him. He was on the run for two weeks until he was captured by a tactical team of U.S. Marshalls and Border Patrol officers in a wooded area off Prizer Road in South Coventry on Sept. 13, after eluding a massive manhunt.
Cavalcante is charged with escape, burglary, theft by unlawful taking, criminal trespass, receiving stolen property, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, and firearms possession. He is currently housed in SCI Green, the maximum security prison where he has been held since last fall.
To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.
