Texan declared innocent, arrested for murder

Defender News Service

For seven years, Lydell Grant, 46, was behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit. After being freed in 2021 – and awarded $675,000 by the state – Grant returned to his normal life. But now, he is back behind bars, this time for a crime authorities say he did commit.

Grant has been charged with killing Edwin Arevalo, 33, following a minor trafc collision, Houston police said. Police said Grant got out of his vehicle, shot Arevalo and then fed.

Grant was taken into custody a few days later afer a warrant was issued for his arrest, police said. He was jailed on $1 million bond.

Grant made national headlines in 2021 afer he was exonerated for a murder he was sentenced to life for. He was convicted of fatally stabbing 28-year-old Aaron Scheerhoorn at a Montrose bar in 2010. He spent seven years behind bars before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals declared his innocence in 2021 afer a new analysis of DNA found on the victim’s fngernails pointed to Grant’s innocence. Police arrested Jermarico

Carter for Scheerhoorn’s killing. Carter, who was tracked down in Atlanta, confessed to the killing. He pleaded guilty to murder in 2022 and was sent to prison.

According to the National Registry of Exonerations, Grant is owed $673,333 for the wrongful conviction. Grant will continue getting paid while his new murder charge plays out in court.

Cassandra Jeu with the Texas Innocence Network at the University of Houston Law Center says Texas makes annual payments, so Grant has yet to receive all of it. Jeu says he will keep getting paid for the wrongful conviction while the recent case plays out in court unless there is a conviction through a plea bargain or trial.

“Texas is the most generous state when it comes to a compensation statute of the entire United States,” Jeu said. “It provides $80,000 for every year the person has been in prison and $25,000 a year for every year the person has been on probation, parole, or sex registry.”

If Grant is convicted, Jeu says the statute does not require him to pay the money back he already received.