Memphis police have launched a manhunt for a convicted murderer who was released on a technicality.
Anthony Green, 24, was convicted over a 2020 deadly shooting on Wednesday and his $500,000 bond was revoked, according to several local reports.
Green shot and killed Octavious Atkins, 27, who was sitting in his car, when he drove to an intersection in nearby Whitehaven and opened fire, Fox 13 Memphis reported, citing police. A 49-year-old man in another car was injured in the shooting, authorities say.
Green was separately arrested Tuesday on a theft charge, for which he paid a $2,500 bond on the same day as his murder conviction, CBS affiliate WREG reported. Since the bond for the theft charge was the only bond actively holding Green in jail, he was released after he paid it, according to WREG.
The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement shared by WREG, “It is important to note that at the time of release, jail staff acted appropriately and lawfully based on the information available to them.
“No legal holds or bond revocations had been processed or communicated at that moment, and therefore, there was no legal basis to detain Green further.”
Green’s attorney, Brandon Hall, told NBC affiliate Action News 5 that his client was “processed out almost immediately after trial.”
“The judge did everything she was supposed to do; she revoked the bond at the end of the trial, as any judge would do. The clerk in the courtroom placed a hold upon my client, and then the jail released him. Now, what happened in between, I don’t know, I can’t say,” Hall said.
A warrant charging Green with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and employment of a firearm with the intent to commit a dangerous felony was issued Thursday, according to multiple outlets.
He is scheduled to be sentenced in the murder case on November 11.
