FRESNO – A man facing burglary charges walked away from court a free man after a jury mistakenly checked the “not guilty” box on the court form, but was killed within the hour.
Bobby Lee Pearson, 37, was let out of jail at 11:57 p.m. on Wednesday after the jury mistakenly signed the not-guilty form and the judge said he had no choice but to order him to be released since the verdict was on the record.
The jury had been unable to reach a verdict and had stalled at 8-4 in favor of guilt. A juror told the judge that there was not a form to sign to say that they were deadlocked. Instead, they mistakenly signed the not-guilty form. The state would not have had the option to prosecute again because of double jeopardy laws, so Pearson had to be let free.
Willie Gray
However, less than an hour later after walking away from jail, Pearson was dead after allegedly being stabbed to death by his sister’s boyfriend at her house when he showed up to collect his belongings.
While at his sister’s home, Pearson allegedly got into a fight with the sister’s boyfriend, 35-year-old Willie Gray.
“For about the past 18 months, there had been a strained relationship between both Gray and Pearson, and ultimately last night there was some type of a verbal confrontation between the two while they were at the location and that subsequently led to some type of disturbance out in the street area where Bobby Pearson ultimately succumbed to injuries,” Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said.
Officers responding to the scene on the 1400 block of West Dayton Avenue just before 1 a.m. on Thursday found Pearson dead on the street with a wound from a knife or gun and a cut on his stomach. A knife was found near his body, Dyer said.
Gray was arrested just before 5 a.m. at a relative’s apartment on the 1000 block of West Clinton Avenue, southeast of the crime scene.
“The question that comes about in an incident like this is, ‘If Bobby Pearson would not have been released, would this murder have occurred?’ And the obvious answer is, ‘No, he would have been in jail,’” Dyer said.
However, he pointed out that individuals like Pearson who have a criminal lifestyle and are involved in gangs always have the potential to become the victim of a violent crime.
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Fresno Bee: Fresno felon slain minutes after jail release
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