The man mistakenly released from jail after he was arrested and charged with shooting Lady Gaga’s dog walker is now the subject of a $5,000 reward announced by the U.S. Marshals Service.
James Howard Jackson, 19, was erroneously released from custody April 6, 2022, due to a clerical error, and he’s been on the run ever since, federal authorities confirmed this week They publicized the award.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department first announced the jailhouse snafu four months ago as it asked for the public’s help finding Jackson.
Jackson is alleged to have shot dog walker Ryan Fischer in the chest with a .40-caliber handgun while Fischer was walking Lady Gaga’s three French bulldogs in Los Angeles the night of Feb. 24, 2021. He allegedly carried out the street-level ambush with his two co-defendants in the case — Jaylin White, 19 and Lafayette Whaley, 27 — due to the value of the dogs’ breed, prosecutors said. Each of the three men were charged separately with attempted murder, conspiracy for robbery, and second-degree criminal robbery.
The Sheriff’s Department sought help from the U.S. Marshals Service after admitting Jackson was erroneously freed because his case on the department’s website said “dismissed”Despite being under a new superseding accusation, it remained active.
“The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the inadvertent release from custody of defendant James Howard Jackson,”The department stated this in an April statement. “Defendant Jackson attended court proceedings at the Clara Shortridge Criminal Justice Center on Tuesday, April 5, 2022, and was released from custody on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, due to a clerical error. The investigation is continuing and the LASD Major Crimes Bureau is actively working to get Mr. Jackson back in custody.”
Jackson had been held for nearly a full year in custody and was being held in lieu $3 million bail.
Prosecutors claimed that Jackson was being arraigned under the new superseding Indictment, which was filed under a different case number. “theold case was then dismissed by a judge as required by law.”
At a secret grand jury proceeding last October, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Michele Hanisee told grand jurors that Jackson opened fire because Fischer refused to hand over the pop star’s three prized pups. She claimed there was no evidence that the men knew the dogs belonged the singer.
Fischer testified at the hearing. He said that his assailants jumped from a vehicle, pulled out a gun and demanded that Fischer hand over the three pets: Asia Gustav, Koji, and Gustav.
“They pointed down to the dogs, that they wanted the dogs, and I said, ‘No.’ And I started to scream for help and tried to fight back,”He testified.
He said, “The man with the gun.” “threw” him into a concrete embankment and “began to choke me.”He bought a bottle of champagne from a local store and hit the man.
“The dog screamed at me, and I reached for him, and then the guy, the man with the gun shot me as I was reaching,”Fischer testified that he fell to the ground while his attackers fled the scene with Gustav, Koji and a Nissan Sentra in white.