The man accused of killing a state deputy sheriff earlier this year was seriously injured when he tried to escape from the Halawa Correctional Facility, officials said yesterday.

John K. Lorenzo Jr. suffered a broken leg, broken ankle and fractured arm when he leaped from the top of a 40-foot building in the failed escape attempt Friday night, said Louise Kim McCoy, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections.

Lorenzo landed just outside a perimeter prison fence but was unable to move and was quickly recaptured by a guard at the gate who heard him moaning, she said.

The escape attempt started about 8:45 p.m. Friday when Lorenzo was allowed into a prison recreation yard for a 15-minute break. Somehow during the break, he managed to climb the side of the prison building and make his way to a far corner of the roof that juts out over the fence, McCoy said.

"We're investigating how he was able to get to the top of the building," she said.

Lorenzo was arrested in connection with the Feb. 10 murder of Deputy Sheriff Daniel Browne-Sanchez in a botched robbery at a Kapi'olani Boulevard nightclub.

Browne-Sanchez, 27, was off-duty from his sheriff's job and was working as a bartender's assistant at the restaurant went the robbery and killing occurred.

Lorenzo, who is awaiting trial on up to 13 charges in that case and is serving a 20-year prison term for an unrelated drug charge, remained hospitalized last night under guard.

He faces additional escape charges when he returns to prison.

Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.