Convicted murderer back in custody after mistaken release from Jefferson County Jail

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - A convicted murderer is back in custody after spending nearly a month free on bond following what sources describe as an unexplained release from the Jefferson County Jail.

Stephon Joseph returned to custody after his release in September. Sources tell WBRC Joseph got a job and showed up to a court hearing before anyone realized he was never supposed to be free.

Joseph had transferred from a state prison to the Jefferson County Jail for a hearing on an unrelated case. A judge ordered officials to return him to prison after the hearing. That did not happen.

Instead, Joseph was released on a combined $60,000 bond across his two domestic violence cases. Bond paperwork shows a Jefferson County sheriff’s deputy signed off on his release.

Criminal defense attorney Roger Appell said the release does not make sense.

“When you make bond, they take their uniform and they give you back your street clothes. What was he released on? What kind of clothes was he wearing? Where did they get those clothes from? They had to be somebody else’s clothes,” Appell said. “There are so many things that went wrong here that are unexplainable. And we’re not talking about, you know, I’m not trying to make differences between cases, but it’s not like a drug case or, you know, a theft of property. This is a guy that’s convicted of murder and looking at domestic violence. There is something seriously wrong with everything that happened in this case.”

Court records also show Joseph received a non-driver ID while he was out. WBRC is asking the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) how that happened.

“You would think if he got a non-ID driver’s license identification, they’d have to do a background on that also. He’d have to bring something to get that, a birth certificate or something, and you would think that would go through the system,” Appell said. “The system completely, in every possible matter, broke down in this situation.”

Law enforcement officials in Jefferson County said they are limited on what they can share, but an investigation into how Joseph was released from custody is ongoing.

WBRC also reached out to the Alabama Department of Corrections, ALEA, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, and the public defender’s office. WBRC is still waiting for answers.

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