Dropped murder charge is third homicide case dismissed in less than a month

I'm glad the state is looking at these cases from the standpoint of the likelihood of conviction.

Wendell “Dooney” Mitchell entered Judge Don Poole’s courtroom Friday wearing jail clothes and shackles, but within a few hours his 350-plus days in jail were over and so was the first-degree murder charge against him.

Prosecutors asked Poole to drop murder and weapons charges against Mitchell, 42, in the 2014 stabbing death of 23-year-old Jeffery “Hot Dog” Jackson.

Mitchell’s case is the third homicide case prosecutors have dismissed in less than a month.

Wendell “Dooney” Mitchell is charged with the July murder of 23-year-old Jeffery “Hot Dog” James.

Cameron Williams, a violent-crimes prosecutor for District Attorney Neal Pinkston’s office, said the state felt it couldn’t get a conviction against Mitchell. He said DNA evidence was inconclusive, and a witness who led police to Mitchell had given conflicting statements. Williams said the witness now denies writing down the nickname of the man he saw nearby when Jackson collapsed on the sidewalk. Another alleged witness couldn’t be found, Williams told Poole.