Clerical error freed ‘dangerous’ Charlotte murder suspect, prompting community alerts
This story was updated Monday, April 17, with more information about the clerical error that led to the release of murder defendant Jaylan Noah Davis.
A murder suspect turned himself in at the Mecklenburg County jail on Saturday after an apparent clerical error led to his release Thursday night, Sheriff Garry McFadden said.
The suspect, 25-year-old Jaylan Noah Davis, was released at 8:10 p.m. Thursday based on a court order that showed his charges had been dismissed in court that day, McFadden said in a statement late Friday.
Mecklenburg County Deputy District Attorney Bruce Lillie told The Charlotte Observer on Monday that a courtroom clerk had made an errant notation in a court filing that Davis’ murder charge from November 2022 had been dismissed by a grand jury. In fact, Lillie said, the dismissal had involved an unrelated weapons charge also filed against Davis.
In an email to the Observer on Monday, Clerk of Court Elisa Chinn Gary took responsibility for her office’s error.
“Ultimately, my office is responsible for managing each case with care and accuracy,” she wrote. “In the (Davis) case, we fell short. For that, we accept accountability and will learn from our critical, human, error.”
Davis’ father, Andrew Davis, said he learned that his son was still wanted from a TV news report and that the family immediately surrendered him.
“We brought him home. But when they put it out on the news, I’m like, ‘We’ve been at home. They got the number here. They got the address here. You know where we’re at,’” Andrew Davis told WSOC, an Observer news partner. “I mean nobody came. Nobody did anything, but we happen to see it on the news, so we went to go turn ourselves in.”
Saturday morning, McFadden said Davis was again being held without bond and is scheduled to appear in court Monday.
Prosecutors on Friday notified sheriff’s officials of the erroneous court order, the sheriff said.
Davis is charged with first-degree murder, possession of a firearm by a felon and discharging a firearm into occupied property, according to jail records.
“Our deputies and local law enforcement officials are working diligently to locate Mr. Davis and return him to custody,” McFadden said late Friday. “This is an unfortunate situation, but one we hope to rectify as quickly as possible.”
On Saturday, the sheriff said he was grateful no one was harmed, “though I am sure it was an emotional roller coaster for the families involved.
“Our criminal justice system will never be flawless, but we will learn from this experience and improve our processes accordingly,” he said.
Michael Gordon contributed.
This story was originally published April 15, 2023 at 8:42 AM.