Authorities now searching for released murder suspect

Published 5:09 pm Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Days after making bond for a murder charge, a Selma man may be making a quick return trip to the Dallas County Jail after authorities revoked a previous bond he had already posted on an unrelated assault charge.

Dallas County District Attorney Michael Jackson said authorities have revoked a bond on an charge previously posted by David Johnson III and authorities were in the process of locating and arresting him Wednesday.

Johnson had been out on the assault bond when he was charged with murder for the shooting death of another man at 80 Racks Clothing, located in the 2800 block of Citizens Parkway.

Email newsletter signup

Johnson was charged with murder and posted the $100,000 bond, but authorities later discovered he had been out on bond at the time of the shooting, Jackson said that was an obvious violation of the previous bond.

“When you are out on bond you aren’t supposed to commit another offense, and so once that happened we got an arrest warrant out for him,” Jackson said. “Hopefully he will turn himself in or be arrested.”

Jackson urged anyone with information about Johnson or his whereabouts to contact the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department immediately.

Asked why Johnson’s bond on the charge of murder was set at $100,000, lower than many similar charges recently, Jackson said many factors go into the setting of a criminal bond in Dallas County.

“Not every murder case will have a bond set at $1 million,” Jackson said. “There have been several cases on murder where the bond was set much lower, even less than $100,000. It just depends on the circumstances and other factors.”

Jackson said bonds on murder charges in Dallas County have been relatively high when compared to others in the state.

“Our bonds in Dallas County have tended to be the highest in the state because we have a lot of gang activity here,” Jackson said. “And when you have the kind of situation when gangs are involved, that is when you have bonds that tend to be in the million dollar range.”

Jackson said when he is taken into custody, Johnson would not have the chance to post a bond.

“He’s going to face a no bond,” Jackson said. “He won’t be able to get out. We want to make sure that anybody that commits murder can’t get out and walk the streets.”

According to witnesses’ statements later released by the Selma Police Department’s Lt. Curtis Muhannad, Johnson and the victim were joking with each other Friday evening about the victim’s appointment, but the incident progressed into a verbal altercation and eventually a physical altercation.

The victim suffered two gunshot wounds, once in the right leg and once in the lower back, Muhannad said.