O'Quinn, Green not guilty of conspiring to escape lawful custody

Matthew O'Quinn and Kenny Green have been found not guilty of conspiring to escape lawful custody. 

The men appeared in provincial court on Friday morning.

The Crown tried to prove that Green and O'Quinn planned to escape from the Waterford Hospital last March, but provincial court judge Lois Skanes said the Crown didn't prove its case. 

The two men were on the forensic ward at the hospital, when on the night of March 23, their beds were moved into a TV room.

The staff noticed Green and O'Quinn were having a hard time settling in, and went in to check on them.

When they did, they found the pair had street clothes on over their pajamas, and they were both wearing sneakers.

The room was searched, and a pillow case was found. It contained bed sheets that were tied together.

O'Quinn and Green were charged with conspiring to escape lawful custody.

In court on Friday, Skanes said "the two never made any admissions they were working together to escape."

"They had little or no opportunity to conspire while under constant supervision. There is no evidence to reach an inference of a conspiracy."

Green is still facing murder charges for allegedly beating a man to death in St. John's in March. O'Quinn, meanwhile has a history of violent offences against women on Newfoundland's west coast. The Crown is trying to have him declared a dangerous offender.