Judge Released Suspected Florida Murderer Because Defense Attorney ‘Did the Math Incorrectly’

Authorities in Florida have to re-capture a suspected murderer after prosecutors say his defense attorney miscalculated his possible release date and fooled a judge into ordering the local jail to let him go.

According to WFTV-TV, the Osceola County Jail released Jamond Lamb, 38, on Wednesday “before charges were officially filed” — all because of a “mathematical error.”  Lamb is wanted on a charge of first-degree premeditated murder {snip}

Jamond Lamb

The U.S. Marshals Service caught Lamb in Rochester, N.Y. on or around March 26 {snip}

Osceola County, Fla. jail records indicate that Lamb was booked in that jurisdiction on April 14. {snip}

Lamb’s defense attorney, Junior A. Barrett, filed court papers on May 11 asking a judge to release the defendant from custody. Barrett cited a Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure which requires a judge to issue an order 30 days after a defendant’s arrest for that defendant to be released from custody on the 33rd day after his arrest “unless formal charges are filed by that date.”  {snip}

In those May 11 court papers, Barrett, writing for Lamb, stated that “the 30th day has passed and the state has failed to file charges.” Barrett also claimed “the 33rd day has also passed.”

Based on those defense filings, Judge Mikaela Nix-Walker signed a release order on May 12.

Mikaela Nix-Walker

The problem, prosecutors quickly noted, was that neither 30 nor 33 days had passed from the noted date of Lamb’s incarceration in Florida. {snip}

{snip}

“Without setting the motion for hearing or requesting a response from the State, this motion was apparently granted and the defendant has apparently been released from the Osceola County Jail,” prosecutor Kelly Barbara Hicks said in a motion filed on May 13.  “The State learned of Defendant’s release from the lead detective on this case.”

{snip}

Judge Nix-Walker backtracked by issuing an arrest order on May 14 {snip}

Authorities told the WFTV they don’t know where Lamb might be.

{snip}