The State - News from Jan. 18, 1987

Lawyers for the two federal prison inmates who escaped in a stolen helicopter argued that defendant Ronald McIntosh had a right to break the law because it was necessary to rescue his sweetheart from a prison death threat. McIntosh, 42, who had been serving a federal prison term in Pleasanton for wire fraud, disappeared Oct. 28 during an unescorted transfer to another prison in Lompoc. He landed a helicopter in the Pleasanton recreation yard Nov. 5 and flew off with Samantha D. Lopez, 37, who was serving a bank robbery sentence from Georgia. They were arrested 10 days later in a Sacramento-area shopping mall.