Escape charge dismissed for man mistakenly released from Meck County jail

CHARLOTTE — An escape charge for a murder suspect has been dismissed after he was accidentally released from the Mecklenburg County jail on Thursday.

Jaylan Noah Davis, 25 was processed out of Mecklenburg County Detention Center Central on Thursday “based upon a court order indication that the charges against him were dismissed in court that day,” the sheriff said. However, the charges were not dismissed, and the court order appeared to be a clerical error.

Davis turned himself back in early Saturday morning. He was once again being held without bond on the murder charge, according to the sheriff’s office.

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He appeared in court on Monday, where he was given a $3,000 bond on a charge of misdemeanor escape. He was given a July court date for that charge.

In court, his defense team said it was “highly inappropriate he was charged with escape.”

According to the District Attorney’s Office, the charge was dismissed on Monday. Channel 9 is looking into the details surrounding the dismissal.

“I am grateful that it appears that no one was harmed as a result of this mishap, though I am sure it was an emotional rollercoaster for the families involved. Our criminal justice system will never be flawless, but we will learn from this experience and improve our processes accordingly,” Sheriff McFadden said.

The Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office notified the sheriff’s office of the error on Friday.

Davis’ father: ‘We happen to see it on the news’

Channel 9′s Glenn Counts spoke with Davis’ father, who said they found out his son had been prematurely released while watching a Channel 9 newscast.

“Like I’m not believing what I’m seeing,” Andrew Davis told Counts.

Andrew Davis said as soon as they heard that his son was wanted, they immediately surrendered. He said he spoke with a sergeant at the jail who explained the mistake.

“And he explained to me that it was some kind of clerical error, and they released 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,’” he said. “I mean nobody came. Nobody did anything, but we happen to see it on the news, so we went to go turn ourselves in.”

Jaylan Davis has been charged with other violent felonies. He was charged with murder in the killing of Arthur Mikulski, 42, along Skipwith Place in west Charlotte in November 2022.

“Jaylan is really a good kid, I think he made some bad decisions. And of course, if any of this comes out and Jaylan is guilty of anything he’s been charged for, by all means, I want justice to be served. I want him to take it like a man,” his father said.

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