Authorities Catch Suspected Killer Freed in County Jail Error

After nearly four months on the lam, a murder defendant who was erroneously set free by the Sheriff’s Department is back in custody after an unrelated arrest in San Bernardino, officials said Tuesday.

Gregory Stinson--one of five homicide suspects mistakenly let go from Los Angeles County Jail during the last two years--was taken into custody Thursday at the Silverwood mobile home park, where police said Stinson threatened a security guard with a screwdriver.

When San Bernardino police ran Stinson’s fingerprints through their electronic identification system, they learned that he was wanted on the murder warrant out of Los Angeles County.

On Tuesday, he was returned to Men’s Central Jail, where he is being held in lieu of $1-million bail. If the San Bernardino district attorney’s office decides to pursue the case, Stinson could be charged with battery on a security guard, brandishing a weapon and providing false information to police.

Stinson was arrested in 1993 in the shooting death of Julius Matthews, 38, of Los Angeles, but he was set free in October when a clerk in the jail’s document control room neglected to update his court file.

Of the five inmates erroneously released since January 1995 for reasons ranging from miscommunication among law enforcement agencies to paperwork errors at the jail, three remain at large.

Rhonda Davis, the widow of the man Stinson allegedly killed, said she was relieved to hear that Stinson was back behind bars. She said she has been living in fear since his release.

“I can finally sleep now,” Davis said.

Although Davis’ husband was slain in 1993, Stinson’s prosecution was put on hold pending a mental competency evaluation. In July 1994, he was certified incompetent to stand trial and was being held pending more court hearings, officials said.

The murder charge was dismissed Oct. 8 in Los Angeles County Superior Court because it was not filed “in a timely fashion.” Although the charge was immediately refiled in Municipal Court, the paperwork apparently did not get entered into the jail’s computer system until after Stinson’s mistaken release.