LOS ANGELES — A 19-year-old who was arrested last year in connection with the shooting of Lady Gaga's dog walker was mistakenly released from jail this week, according to authorities.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department inmate records show James Howard Jackson was released from custody at 3:38 p.m. Wednesday after his case was dismissed.
Sheriff's officials and the L.A. County district attorney's office could not immediately confirm details, but KNBC-TV Channel 4 reported that Jackson's release was in error.
The station cited law enforcement sources who said that a replacement case should have been filed, but records weren't updated and Jackson was released.
The district attorney's office told KNBC late Thursday that the dismissed charges were set to be replaced by a superseding grand jury indictment, which was unsealed during a court hearing Wednesday.
"Several sources familiar with the court proceedings said it appeared the superseding case was not entered against Jackson," the station reported.
Jackson was among five people arrested last year in connection with the shooting of Ryan Fischer, the dog walker.
Fischer was walking Lady Gaga's three French bulldogs in the 1500 block of Sierra Bonita Avenue in Hollywood in late February 2021 when a car pulled up and two men jumped out.
Fischer resisted when the men tried to snatch the dogs, and he was shot in the chest. The assailants took two of the dogs and escaped. Fischer has since been released from a hospital.
Jackson was accused of pulling the trigger, according to prosecutors. In addition to attempted murder, he was charged at the time of his initial arrest with assault with a semiautomatic firearm, being a felon in possession of a firearm in a vehicle, conspiracy to commit robbery and second-degree robbery.
The dogs were recovered after a middle-aged woman walked into a Los Angeles police station with the two bulldogs days after the shooting.
She claimed she had simply come across the dogs tied to a pole and asked about a $500,000 reward the singer had offered for their return, police said at the time.
That woman, 51-year-old Jennifer McBride, was later arrested.
McBride, the Los Angeles Police Department said, was in a relationship with Harold White, 41, the father of one of the men accused of assaulting Fischer.
McBride and White were charged as accessories to the shooting and robbery.
White's son, Jaylin White, 20, along with Jackson and Lafayette Whaley, 28, were charged with attempted murder and several other felonies stemming from the attack, police said.
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