MERCED, Calif. (AP) – A central California sheriff has acknowledged the error of arresting a 19-year-old on a warrant for a murder charge he had been cleared of.
Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke says he’s looking into what went wrong. Jacob Tellez spent a night in jail over the weekend before he was released.
A judge last year cleared Tellez and co-defendant Ethan Morse of murder in the 2013 slaying of Bernabed Hernandez-Canela. Morse is the son of Merced County District Attorney Larry Morse II.
Officials tell the Merced Sun-Star newspaper that the warrant seeking Tellez’s arrest appears not to have been properly cleared from a law enforcement database.
Tellez’s arrest on Saturday came two days after he filed a claim for damages against Merced County, alleging civil rights violations.
