Louisville jail mistakenly releases defendant deemed a 'significant danger'

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- When convicted felon Kejaun Jackson was arraigned June 20 on several charges, including strangulation and threatening to kill a woman and four children, prosecutors asked the judge to raise his bond from $50,000 to $250,000, calling him a "significant danger."

Jefferson District Court Judge Kristina Garvey agreed while looking over the charges against him, saying "this is a very concerning read."

"There's no question that Mr. Jackson poses a danger," Garvey said, according to a video of the hearing.

But instead of being lodged in Metro Corrections, Jackson was mistakenly released from jail on home incarceration. The jail was also sent an order on June 30, when Jackson's case was sent to a grand jury, that he should remain in jail on bond.

But Jackson hasn't been seen since.

The error wasn't realized until after Jackson was indicted this month on six charges, including being a persistent felony offender, and was supposed to appear in front of a Jefferson circuit court judge Aug. 11.

Judge Sarah Clay was told, however, that he was not in the jail.

"He's not at (Louisville Metro Corrections)?" the puzzled judge asked deputies who told the judge Jackson was not in custody, according to a court video of the proceeding. "He is. He should be."

After checking Jackson's jail status online, she said "he has a quarter million-dollar bond that has not been posted, but he is somehow not at the jail anymore."

Clay issued a warrant for Jackson's arrest and for him to be held on a $1 million bond when he is caught.

Maj. Jason Logsdon, a spokesman for Metro Corrections, said after Garvey set Jackson's cash bond on June 20, jail employees "in good faith believed" Jackson was instead put on home incarceration, and he was released. He acknowledged the jail made a mistake.

On Aug. 9, Jackson, 31, removed his GPS monitoring device and fled, Logsdon said.

The Aug. 11 hearing was "the first time LMDC was made aware" that Jackson was not intended to be released on home incarceration, he said.

Logsdon said no one at Metro Corrections has been disciplined but the department is working with the court clerk's office to "standardize language" in the bond orders to "prevent any miscommunication like this in the future."

The judge's bond order, which is in the case file, states clearly bail was set at $250,000.

Asked what the confusion or miscommunication about the order was, Logsdon would only that "would be a conversation between LMDC and the clerks office."

The alleged victim, who WDRB News is not naming, couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Jackson, who has a lengthy criminal history including other assault charges, was accused of hitting a female family member several times in the face with his fist June 19. He also put a chain from a purse around the woman's neck and choked her until she vomited, according to a police arrest report.

Police claim Jackson continued hitting the woman in the face, telling her "you're going to die tonight, we're both going to die," the police report claims.

After Jackson's mother arrived at the home, he picked up a 10-inch knife and said "everyone's going down tonight," threatening to kill the women and four children in the home if anyone called police, according to the report.

Jackson threw the knife at the woman, which landed about two inches from one of the children, police allege.

He is charged with strangulation, assault, terroristic threatening, multiple counts of wanton endangerment and being a persistent felony offender. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf.

After being arrested, Jackson told police he and the woman only had a "heated argument," according to the arrest report.

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