Should these murder suspects have been free?
Half of the roughly 300 people charged with murder in Mecklenburg County since 2015 had prior weapons charges. Prosecutors dismissed most of those charges.
For 28 of those murder suspects, a conviction on an earlier weapons charge — rather than a dismissal — would have put them in prison at the time of the killing.
Prosecutors say they often have to dismiss cases due to insufficient evidence, including witnesses who aren’t credible, who can’t be found or who refuse to testify.
Here are the 28 suspects:
Suspect: Algia Clark
Number of weapons charges: 12
Number dismissed: 9
Number pending: 2
Number guilty: 1
Date of homicide: Aug. 20, 2019
Who he is charged with murdering: A’mari McCaskill
Details: Mecklenburg prosecutors had two chances to send Clark to prison for years. In 2017, prosecutors dismissed Clark’s armed robbery charge, winning a conviction on a lesser charge. Clark got out of prison in November 2018. A month later, he was charged with another robbery. Prosecutors dismissed that charge. A conviction on either armed robbery charge would have landed Clark in prison for more than three years. Clark is charged with shooting and killing McCaskill in August.
Suspect: Edward Garner
Number of weapons charges: 6
Number dismissed: 3
Number pending: 3
Date of homicide: Aug. 12, 2019
Who he is charged with murdering: Aiesha Shantel Summers and an unborn child
Details: In 2017, police charged Garner with discharging a weapon into occupied property. A year later, Mecklenburg prosecutors dropped the charge. Had he been found guilty of discharging the weapon, Garner likely would have been sentenced to at least 20 months in prison because he had prior felony convictions — a factor that judges must consider in sentencing.
Suspect: Eddie Doh
Number of weapons charges: 13
Number dismissed: 2
Number guilty: 2
Number pending: 9
Date of homicide: July 10, 2019
Who he is charged with murdering: Darnell Harris
Details: In 2011, police found 17-year-old Aerial Patterson dead in front of a vacant home in southwest Charlotte. Doh, then 23, was charged with first-degree murder. In 2013, prosecutors dismissed the murder charge and Doh was found guilty of accessory after the fact to first-degree murder. He was released from prison in January about five months before being charged with killing Harris.
Suspect: Richard Grier
Number of weapons charges: 10
Number dismissed: 2
Number guilty: 5
Number not guilty: 1
Number archived: 1
Number pending: 1
Date of homicide: May 18, 2019
Who he is charged with murdering: Andrew Tyrelle Allen
Details: By 2013, Grier had been convicted of 19 felonies. Those convictions would have increased his prison time if he had been convicted in 2013 of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury.
Suspect: Juan Escalante
Number of weapon charges: 8
Number dismissed: 2
Number pending: 6
Date of homicide: April 30, 2019
Who he is charged with murdering: Domingo Venancio-Tapia
Details: Less than a month after Mecklenburg prosecutors dismissed an armed robbery charge, Escalante and a co-defendant were charged with murdering Venancio-Tapia outside a South Boulevard restaurant. Two days after the shooting, police took Escalante into custody following an eight-hour SWAT standoff.
Suspect: Khdaius Marshall
Number of weapons charges: 7
Number dismissed: 3
Number guilty: 2
Number pending: 2
Date of homicide: April 28, 2019
Who he was charged with murdering: Tyrena Inman
Details: Two months after prosecutors in Mecklenburg dropped an armed robbery charge, Marshall was charged with shooting and killing Inman in a southwest Charlotte hotel near the Billy Graham Parkway.
Suspect: Anthony Walker
Number of weapons charges: 11
Number dismissed: 9
Number pending: 2
Date of homicide: April 28, 2019
Who he was charged with murdering: Daimeon Terrell Johnson
Details: Walker never went to trial on any of the nine gun charges he racked up from 2012 through 2018. All were dismissed. Those charges included three armed robberies in 2017, according to court documents. Had Walker been convicted of any of those armed robbery charges, he would have been incarcerated the day Johnson was shot and killed in Charlotte’s Lincoln Heights neighborhood.
Suspect: Antoine Lamont Watkins
Number of weapons charges: 4
Number dismissed: 3
Number pending: 1
Date of homicide: Feb. 9, 2019
Who he was charged with murdering: Na-Zea Scott
Details: In 2016, Mecklenburg prosecutors dismissed Watkins’ major assault charge — assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury. The charge carries a minimum of 3.5 years in prison. But Watkins was free on Feb. 9, 2019 — the day he is accused of shooting Na-Zea Scott in the neck outside of a southeast Charlotte apartment complex.
Suspect: Jamarkus Crawford
Number of weapons charges: 11
Number dismissed: 7
Number guilty: 2
Number pending: 2
Date of homicide: Feb. 20, 2019
Who he was charged with murdering: Titus Campbell
Details: Since 2010, police have charged Crawford with 11 weapons crimes, including felony possession of a firearm last year. Prosecutors dismissed that charge. Had Crawford been convicted, he would have been in prison in February, when he was charged with killing Campbell in west Charlotte.
Suspect: Kaila Carlissa Robinson
Number of weapons charges: 5
Number dismissed: 1
Number guilty: 1
Number pending: 3
Date of homicide: Jan. 12, 2019
Who she was charged with murdering: Jermaine Moore
Details: In 2017, Mecklenburg County prosecutors dismissed Robinson’s armed robbery charge. Less than a year and a half later, Robinson was charged with murder.
Suspect: Tyler Jordan Hokes
Number of weapons charges: 16
Number dismissed: 7
Number guilty: 2
Number pending: 7
Date of homicide: Jan. 1, 2019
Who he is charged with murdering: Carnis Ferdinand Poindexter
Details: Hokes was charged with armed robbery last October. But prosecutors dismissed that charge in December — less than a month before Poindexter’s death.
Suspect: Jamie Lloyd Harris
Number of weapons charges: 15
Number dismissed: 5
Number guilty: 7
Number pending: 3
Date of homicide: Dec. 29, 2018
Who he was charged with murdering: John Michael Songer
Details: After serving time for armed robbery and second-degree murder, Harris was charged with armed robbery again in July 2018. But that charge was dismissed in September 2018. Three months later, Harris was charged with shooting and killing Songer at Smokey Joe’s Cafe on Monroe Road.
Suspect: Rodwyn Taylor
Number of weapons charges: 4
Number dismissed: 3
Number pending: 1
Date of homicide: July 16, 2018
Who he is charged with killing: Psi’keem Walker
Details: Less than two months before he was accused of killing Walker, Taylor had two gun charges dismissed by Mecklenburg prosecutors. One charge was attempted armed robbery. The second charge was possession of a firearm by a felon.
Suspect: Demahj Wright
Number of weapons charges: 5
Number dismissed: 2
Number pending: 3
Date of homicide: June 4, 2018
Who he is charged with killing: Tevin Snow
Details: Prosecutors dismissed Wright’s armed robbery charge in August 2016. Less than two years later, Wright was charged with killing Snow, who was shot to death on West W.T. Harris Boulevard.
Suspect Oyontai Bostic
Number of weapons charges: 4
Number dismissed: 2
Number pending: 2
Date of homicide: June 4, 2018
Who he is charged with killing: Tevin Snow
Details: In July 2016, Bostic was charged with armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery. Mecklenburg County prosecutors dismissed those charges in August of that year. Less than two years later, Bostic was accused of killing Snow. Snow was shot to death while driving his caren West W.T. Harris Boulevard.
Suspect: Sergio Coello-Perez
Number of weapons charges: 3
Number dismissed: 2
Number pending: 1
Date of homicide: May 12, 2018
Who he is charged with killing: Nicholas Boger
Details: Police charged Coello-Perez with armed robbery in January 2018. Prosecutors dismissed the charge in April 2018. A month later, Coello-Perez and a co-defendant were charged with killing Boger while trying to steal his car.
Suspect: Richard Jordan
Number of weapons charges: 24
Number dismissed: 20
Number guilty: 1
Number pending: 3
Date of homicide: April 13, 2018
Who he is charged with killing: Alexus Fraley
Details: Jordan was charged with two counts of murder after he was accused of spraying a car with bullets near the campus of Johnson & Wales University in 2008. The murder charges were dismissed. He was convicted of accessory after the fact and was released from prison in 2016. Two years later, Jordan was charged with killing Fraley.
Suspect: Jaime Melendez-Suarez
Number of weapons charges: 8
Number dismissed: 4
Number pending: 4
Date of homicide: April 4, 2018
Who he is charged with killing: Jacob Hernandez
Details: In September 2017, Melendez-Suarez was charged with four gun crimes, including two counts of the most serious assault charge — assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury. Less than a month later, Mecklenburg prosecutors dropped all four charges. The next year, Melendez-Suaraz was charged with killing Hernandez, whose body was found in a wooded area about four miles north of Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
Suspect: Antonio Shine
Number of weapons charges: 12
Number dismissed: 11
Number guilty: 1
Date of homicide: April 3, 2018
Who he is convicted of killing: Maria Eduvigig Echeverria de Gomez
Details: Shine was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury in January 2017. That charge, and a conspiracy to assault charge, were dismissed three months later. In 2018, Shine was charged with killing Gomez. This year, he was sentenced to prison after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Shine’s projected release date is March 2042.
Suspect: Andre Clark
Number of weapons charges: 9
Number dismissed: 5
Number guilty: 4
Date of homicide: Jan. 30, 2018
Who he is convicted of killing: Damien Alonzo Mackins II
Details: Prosecutors dismissed Clark’s armed robbery charge in July 2017. About six months later, Clark allegedly shot and killed Mackins. His body was found in a wooded area in northeast Charlotte. In July 2019, Clark was convicted of manslaughter and discharging a weapon in an enclosure to incite fear. His projected release date from prison is March 2026.
Suspect: Tyshoine McAfee
Number of weapons charges: 8
Number dismissed: 3
Number guilty: 2
Number pending: 3
Date of homicide: Nov. 12, 2017
Who he is charged with killing: Abraham Malik Wallace
Details: Mecklenburg prosecutors dismissed a previous armed robbery charge against McAfee in February 2017, according to court records. A conviction would have sent McAfee to prison for more than three years. Later in 2017, he allegedly killed Wallace.
Suspect: James Russell Andrews
Number of weapons charges: 12
Number dismissed: 2
Number guilty: 2
Number pending: 8
Date of homicide: April 1, 2017
Who he is charged with killing: Jarel D’Shaun Grace
Details: A 2011 murder charge against Andrews was dismissed. He was convicted of armed robbery and conspiracy to armed robbery that year, but was out of prison in four years. He is accused of killing Grace in east Charlotte during an armed robbery in April 2017.
Suspect: Samuel Antoine Smith
Number of weapons charges: 7
Number dismissed: 1
Number guilty: 6
Date of homicide: Oct. 5, 2016
Who he killed: Larry Dean Bowden
Details: In January 2016, Mecklenburg prosecutors dismissed a charge against Smith of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. He later pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in Bowden’s death.
Suspect: Michael Mandrell Marble
Number of weapons charges: 11
Number dismissed: 9
Number guilty: 1
Number pending: 1
Date of homicide: Sept. 12, 2016
Who he is charged with killing: Louis Henry Fuqua
Details: Mecklenburg County prosecutors dismissed a 2015 armed robbery charge against Marble. Eight months after officials dropped the charge, Marble was charged with murder.
Suspect: Timothy Crumitie
Number of weapons charges: 5
Number dismissed: 2
Number guilty: 3
Date of homicide: Aug. 6, 2016
Who he is charged with killing: Danny Kaye Johnson
Details: A previous murder charge against Crumitie was dismissed in 2010. Prosecutors said a lengthy investigation turned up no physical evidence linking Crumitie to the shooting death. He was charged with murdering Johnson in 2016. He was convicted in 2018 and is serving life in prison.
Suspect: Elijah Parker
Number of weapons charges: 4
Number dismissed: 1
Number guilty: 3
Date of homicide: Aug. 24, 2015
Who he killed: 24-year-old Malik Teasdell
Details: In 2014, prosecutors dismissed an armed robbery charge against Parker. A year later, he shot Teasdell to death. In 2016, Parker pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and is serving 23 years in prison.
Suspect: Adrian McLeod
Number of weapons charges: 10
Number dismissed: 8
Number guilty: 2
Date of homicide: July 15, 2015
Who he killed: Kynyatta Tshiona
Details: Prosecutors dismissed a 2013 armed robbery charge against McLeod. Had he been convicted of that charge, he likely would have been in prison for more than three years. In 2018, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in connection with Tshiona’s death. He is now serving a 22-year sentence.
Suspect: Mario McGill
Number of weapons charges: 23
Number dismissed: 14
Number guilty: 9
Date of homicide: Jan. 5, 2015
Who he killed: Robert Miller
Details: By 2015, McGill racked up more than 20 weapons charges, according to court records. They included two attempted armed robbery charges in 2012. Prosecutors dismissed both of those charges. Last year, McGill pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in connection with Miller’s death.
Note: Data as of mid-2019
This story was originally published September 24, 2019 at 8:00 AM.