A Texas man exonerated after serving eight years in prison for a 2010 murder has been charged with the road rage killing of a motorist.
Lydell Grant, 46, is accused of fatally shooting 33-year-old Edwin Arevalo following a minor traffic accident in Houston, reported KHOU.
Authorities allege that after the accident Mr Grant got out of his vehicle and shot Arevalo before fleeing the scene. He was taken into custody on Friday on murder charges and jailed on a $1m bond.
In 2012, Mr Grant was convicted of killing Aaron Scheerhoorn, who was stabbed outside a Houston bar in 2010. Six eyewitnesses to the stabbing of the 28-year-old testified against Grant at the trial and he was given a life sentence.
He was declared innocent in May 2021 by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals after a new DNA analysis of evidence found on the victim’s fingernails.
Mr Grant had served eight years of his sentence when he was released and qualified to collect $80,000 in state compensation for every year of imprisonment.
In 2022 Jermarico Carter, who had been arrested in Atlanta in 2019, pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to prison.
“We are saddened by the news of this tragic event and our thoughts and sympathies go out to the victim’s family. As this is an ongoing investigation, we cannot comment on the specifics of this incident,” the Innocence Project of Texas said in a statement.
“We stand behind Mr Grant’s previous exoneration. DNA evidence and the confession of the real perpetrator of the crime proved Mr Grant’s actual innocence. His 2012 conviction was proven wrongful, and he spent eight years in prison as a result.
“The important work of supporting innocent people wrongly convicted of crimes is an essential part of our collective work towards a better and more just society, and we remain committed to that goal.”
