Get Out of Jail Free? Error Led to Early Release

July 20, 2007 — -- An errant stroke of the pen turned out to be a stroke of luck for Willie Joe McAdams. Well, for a while anyway.

McAdams, who was sent to prison in 2004 for shooting Cedric Thomas in the head and blinding him in one eye, was discharged because of a clerical error after serving only four years of his 40-year sentence, said Jason Clark, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

When McAdams went to prison, someone at TDCJ wrote a four instead of a 40 into the computer, said Clark.

McAdams' luck ran out when he approached the man he had shot four years earlier at a bar, shook his hand, and apologized to him.

Thomas, the victim, wasn't amused. "What if he still had malice in his heart and wanted to kill me?" Thomas told the Houston Chronicle.

The Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force arrested McAdams Thursday evening at his home in southwest Houston after receiving a tip from an unnamed caller. There are no reports that McAdams committed any crimes during his release.

"If McAdams had not met up with Thomas and instead went to another state, we probably would not have noticed or caught him," said Harris County district attorney investigator Johnny Bonds. In his 40 years on the job, he could not recall something like this happening before.

Back on Ice

The police transferred McAdams to the Byrd Unit Thursday where he will serve at least 16 more years before he's eligible for release on parole.

The Office of the Inspector General is investigating the error to look to make sure there was no foul play.

According to TDCJ Inspector General John Moriarty, "Two other people were supposed to check the entry, and they seemed to have made the same mistake."

Moriarty's office is interviewing employees, and will be polygraphing the individual who made the entry, but no longer holds that position.

He suspects that no collusion was involved. "We've looked at backgrounds at both the suspect released and the employee, and there were no ties that we can see," he said.

When you look at the handwritten court documents, you can understand how such a mistake could have been made, Moriarty said.

"I'm not trying to make excuses, but remember that they have over 150,000 in custody and mistakes can happen," he said.

No Foolproof System

McAdams was charged with aggravated assault in Harris County, which carries a mandatory half sentence before parole can be considered, and his appeal was denied.

"He should not have been eligible for parole until he served at least 20 years," said Bonds. But when he was released May 4, he was discharged without any mention of parole.

Bonds said he is concerned that there doesn't seem to be a foolproof system to keep this from happening again. Luckily, investigators said that they rarely see handwritten paperwork come through the system anymore, which they hope will diminish the risk of misreading sentences in the future.

"We're surprised that no one double checked the sentence upon his release either," Bonds said.