A Tennessee man charged within the brutal homicide of an unique dancer in Arizona has remained in an out-of-state jail for 2 months on an unrelated probation violation, baffling attorneys who query why he has not been extradited to Maricopa County.
Jared Grey, 25, is certainly one of three defendants charged with first-degree homicide within the killing of Mercedes Vega, whose burned, overwhelmed physique was present in a automobile west of Phoenix in 2023.
However not like his two co-defendants, Grey shouldn’t be awaiting trial in a Maricopa County jail. He’s almost 2,000 miles away, in Catoosa County, Georgia, the place he has been incarcerated underneath the identify “Jarred Grey” since his arrest in June on a probation violation linked to a 2022 theft cost that he pleaded responsible to, data present.
Grey’s probation was revoked final month, and he was ordered to serve the remainder of his five-year sentence on the theft cost behind bars, a court docket order exhibits.
It isn’t clear how a lot time is left on that sentence. Neither is it clear why he has not been extradited to Arizona.
A spokesman for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Workplace declined to remark, saying it doesn’t present extradition data due to “safety considerations.” The Maricopa County Lawyer’s Workplace, which is prosecuting the case, referred NBC Information to the sheriff’s workplace.
In response to an e mail looking for details about Grey’s extradition to Arizona, Travis Jordan, his lawyer within the probation case, stated: “Sadly, your e mail beneath is the primary information I’ve heard as to Mr. Grey’s extradition standing and I’ve no data referring to it.”
Based on Deanna Reisman, the chief assistant district lawyer for the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit, which incorporates Catoosa County, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Workplace positioned a “maintain” on Grey, permitting authorities in Arizona the possibility to take him into custody previous to his launch on the probation cost.
Reisman wasn’t certain how a lot time they should make that arrest, nor did she know if officers in Maricopa County have sought Grey’s extradition. Her workplace usually solely turns into concerned within the course of when a defendant fights extradition. Most don’t, she added.
“Arizona can safe his presence of their courts for his or her cost(s) regardless of the defendant serving a sentence in Georgia,” she wrote in an e mail.
The Catoosa County Sheriff’s Workplace didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Grey was charged with first-degree homicide in Vega’s killing on June 20, two days after he was arrested on the probation violation. As a result of he’s nonetheless in Georgia, he has not been arraigned on the cost, and court docket data in Maricopa County don’t listing a lawyer who can converse on his behalf.
Stara Roemer, a former prosecutor in Dallas County, Texas, who shouldn’t be concerned within the case, stated that if she have been dealing with Vega’s homicide prosecution, she would need Grey extradited instantly.
“I wouldn’t need to threat something going sideways,” she stated, noting that it isn’t remarkable for folks in Grey’s scenario to be launched accidentally.
Howard Snader, a longtime legal protection lawyer in Phoenix who can also be not concerned within the case, stated: “I don’t perceive why they wouldn’t him again right here as shortly as potential. It is a high-profile, brutal, horrific murder.”
Grey’s co-defendants in Vega’s killing, Cudjoe Younger and Sencere Hayes, have been indicted final month on expenses of first-degree homicide, kidnapping, arson, armed theft, conspiracy and theft. Hayes, 22, was charged with a further depend of hindering prosecution. They pleaded not responsible.
Authorities haven’t recognized a potential motive. Vega’s household have stated they imagine the killing was supposed to silence her.
Three years earlier than her homicide, Vega was robbed at gunpoint outdoors her Phoenix condo constructing, and she or he later recognized Younger, 29, because the masked assailant, police data present. Vega was scheduled to testify on April 17, 2023, the day she was discovered lifeless, her mom stated.
Authorities haven’t stated how the three defendants are linked, however all have ties to Chattanooga, Tennessee, in line with an affidavit in help of an arrest warrant for Grey. Investigators have cited proof connecting Younger to the automobile that Vega’s physique was present in, in line with the affidavit, whereas fingerprints hyperlink Grey and Hayes to the homicide, it says.
