One suspect in a 2020 slaying of two men in a Harrisburg barbershop was back behind bars Tuesday, May 31, after mistakenly being released from jail. Also Tuesday, a second suspect in the double homicide was denied bond.
Cortez Berry, 25, was released May 23 from the Charles B. Webster Detention Center although he faces murder and other charges in the Nov. 23, 2020, slayings of 48-year-old Meguel Freeman and 34-year-old Wyman K. Scott.
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Sgt. William McCarty reported that Tuesday afternoon Berry was taken back into custody Tuesday by sheriff officers and the U.S. Marshal’s Service Fugitive Task Force.
“At the direction of Sheriff Roundtree, this agency is investigating the circumstances that led to this incident and will take the appropriate steps necessary to ensure this does not occur again,” McCarty wrote in an email.
Also Tuesday, Kazarie Middleton, 19, was denied bond for a third time. Middleton, Berry and Marquis Harris, 19, have each pleaded not guilty in Richmond County Superior Court.
The three are believed to have taken part in a robbery scheme involving the Johnson Beauty and Barber Salon on Eve Street around 1 p.m. Nov. 23, 2020. Whatever the plan might have been, the aftermath resembled a straight-out execution, Assistant District Attorney Justin Mullis said Tuesday.
When Middleton was arrested, he had a handgun in his possession, but ballistic tests on the weapon have still not been completed.
Defense attorney Greg Leopard said law enforcement officers in the case don’t believe those tests will be evidence good for the prosecution, and other evidence against Middleton is lacking. Middleton graduated from the youth challenge program through juvenile court, and he had a good job before his arrest, Leopard said.
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Freeman’s wife and Scott’s father asked the judge to deny bond Tuesday. Neither could comprehend such a brutal and senseless killing done in broad daylight just before the Thanksgiving Day.
Robyn Freeman told the judge she begged her husband to leave the shop in Harrisburg because she thought the neighborhood was getting too dangerous, but he wouldn’t do it. He said he got help when he needed a hand and he wanted to give to others. He worked with the church in the community, and he took part in the back-to-school drives, said Robyn Freeman. She lost her husband of 22 years and her best friend.
Scott’s father, for whom the victim was named, told the judge that Scott had only wanted to get a haircut that day before celebrating the holiday with his family.
Sandy Hodson is a staff reporter covering courts for The Augusta Press. Reach her at sandy@theaugustapress.com.
