NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — A man paying for his crime with time has an unexpected turn of events. He was released too early — weeks ahead of schedule — and it has us asking how that could have happened.
It's bad enough this reportedly happened, but it's not the first time. It stirred our memories and archives of another incident a little more than two years ago. In this case, James Lee was supposed to get out of the Newport News jail on March 28, which hasn't happened yet. Instead– his wife got the call on Monday that he was getting out. It raised questions with her, and with us.
It had us asking a lot of questions about wrong releases at the Newport News Jail which had happened before.
There's a picture of James and Denise Lee on the couch. In each others arms Monday night. The only problem is when the picture was taken Monday night James Lee was supposed to be in the Newport News jail.
Even Denise was confused, "I said, 'Babe, I'm excited. I'm not putting too much pressure on you. You told them that your release date was the 28 right?'"
Denise says James said the deputies there must have thought there was a mix up or something like that. It appears the Newport News Jail wrongly released James Lee even though he told deputies he shouldn't be released.
"He said 'Am I going to get into trouble because I am being released?' They said, 'You aren't releasing yourself. We are releasing you because we know what we are doing.'"
In reality the deputies didn't know what they were doing. They didn't realize Lee had lost good time behavior credit due to a fight at another facility. Newport News Sheriff Gabe Morgan sent this statement about the mistake, "Mr. Lee was released March 14, 2016, as scheduled, after being transferred from the Department of Corrections. Because of an infraction prior to coming here, the DOC revoked 14 days of "good time" it had given him for good behavior. Due to the infraction, that changed his release date to March 28, 2016. The classification clerk did not see the updated calculation and Mr. Lee was released based on his 'good time' calculation. Mr. Lee was notified and he returned to serve the remaining 14 days."
After Monday's release, Lee was contacted by the jail, and he immediately returned. He refused an interview for this report. Denise tells us what he said, "They told him they had made a mistake, and he would have to come in and finish his sentence. I was like 'wow' it's happening again."
Happening again? Denise remembered a 10 On Your Side investigation two and a half years ago. "This happened not too long ago, and it made me look it up…I saw it on TV 10… it's crazy," she said.
Denise remembers when we confronted Sheriff Morgan in October 2013 after he wrongly released Eric Nixon from Hampton. "Clearly nothing has changed. They must not have fixed the problem. You would think they fixed the problem because that could have been serious," said Denise.
Denise Lee showed us the Department of Corrections website that shows when inmates should be released. It's clear on the website: James Andre Lee: March 28, 2016. He is serving a two-year sentence for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
"You would think they would have the information," she said.
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Source: Newport News inmate released by mistake
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