East Hills homicide suspect turns himself in after accidental release from jail
A Pittsburgh man charged with murder but mistakenly released from prison before the warrant was filed turned himself in Friday, authorities said.
Leonard Bernard Hilton, 24, was charged Thursday with homicide and firearms violations in connection with the May 25 killing of Matthew Anthony Zinnermon.
Zinnermon, 32, was shot to death near the Maple Hill Apartments in the city's East Hills neighborhood. Police responded about 4 a.m. to Park Hill Drive and found Zinnermon, of Chesapeake, Va., dead from multiple gunshot wounds.
Hilton, of Pittsburgh's Sheraden neighborhood, was a suspect from the start, and Pittsburgh police booked him that day on a bench warrant relating to theft and receiving stolen property.
Investigators filed the homicide charges and issued the related warrant six days later only to discover he'd been released from jail earlier that afternoon.
Pittsburgh police Deputy Chief Thomas Stangrecki said that policy dictates that the District Attorney's Office sign off on all homicide charges.
“Once the case was approved, detectives went to the magistrate to get the warrant signed,” Stangrecki said in a statement. “In this case, (Hilton) was released before the warrant was signed and before it could be executed at the county Jail.”
Allegheny County communications director Amie Downs stressed that the jail does not make the decision to hold or release someone – that power belongs to the court.
“In this case, the court removed the detainer for Hilton, changed his bond to a non-monetary bond and ordered his release” by 12 a.m. Thursday, Downs said in a statement.
She explained that when such an order is received, the jail has 48 hours to release the inmate, and the paperwork is reviewed by three different employees.
She said that paperwork was received at 4:07 p.m. Wednesday, and Hilton was released when a check for detainers, holds and warrants came back clear.
It was later discovered that Hilton had an active warrant from May 2016 that should have kept him in jail, Downs said.
“We are attempting to determine, along with the different components of the bail process, why that warrant didn't flag prior to his release on Thursday,” she said.
Megan Guza is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 412-380-8519, mguza@tribweb.com or via Twitter @meganguzaTrib.
