Another prisoner freed by mistake

He was a crucial witness for trial in double slaying

A crucial witness in a capital murder trial and former state prisoner was released early this month in the fourth of a recent rash of mistaken jail releases, officials said Tuesday.

Court officials discovered Anthony Tedesco, 26, had been released March 1 when bailiffs attempted to retrieve him from the Nueces County Jail to testify in Darrell Lee Swearingen's trial. Swearingen is one of three men accused of an execution-style killing that left an 18-year-old man and his 19-year-old girlfriend dead January 2004.

The jail employee who mistakenly released Tedesco after misinterpreting a court order was responsible for a previous release, as well. Chronologically, the release was the second of four and happened before additional safeguards were put in place by Sheriff Rebecca Stutts. The employee is on leave until further notice and an internal investigation is being conducted.

Tedesco was in prison for possession of a controlled substance, a violation of his parole. He was to be released for serving his time, but District Judge Sandra Watts had ordered him held to ensure he appeared in the murder trial, said Assistant District Attorney James Sales, who is prosecuting Swearingen.

Sales called Tedesco when his release was discovered, and Tedesco immediately turned himself in, said Chief Deputy Jimmy Rodriguez, with the Nueces County Sheriff's Department.

Tedesco went before Watts after the Swearingen trial was recessed Tuesday,

"You will be here in the morning?" Watts asked Tedesco.

"Yes ma'am," Tedesco said before he was excused.

Three other men have been released mistakenly in the past six weeks.

Stephen Forrester Miller, 39, was released Saturday after jail officials did not receive a faxed notice of the parole violation, which would have kept him in jail. Authorities were still searching for him as of late Tuesday.

Fred Winterroth, 27, was mistakenly released because of a clerical error March 6 and was returned to custody six days later, after he was found at a Southside convenience store.

Jason Garcia, 24, was released from jail Feb. 17 because of a clerical error. Garcia had two warrants with the same number. One had been dismissed but the current one was still in effect. He turned himself in to authorities soon after being released.

Rodriguez said the sheriff's office is discussing the possibility of an external investigation, but no decisions have been made. He said the number and frequency of mistaken releases is highly unusual.

"I just think it's mysterious that we don't have any for many years, and then we have several in a short time frame," he said. "We're going to thoroughly investigate every possibility and hold anyone who's responsible."

Contact Mari Saugier at 886-3623 or HYPERLINK