DALLAS — A patient accused of killing a psychiatrist inside a mental hospital who was mistakenly released from the Dallas County Jail has been caught.
Authorities were looking for Tony Cason, who was released from the jail on Aug. 19. He was caught just before noon Thursday in Seagoville. Dallas police officers took custody of him and returned him to the Dallas County jail.
It's not yet clear how the mistaken release occurred. The sheriff’s department did not issue a statement about the mistake until after News 8 reported that Cason had been released.
“After a preliminary investigation, it appears there may have been a human error in entering the release,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
The sheriff’s department has started an internal investigation to determine the cause of this “potential error.”
District Judge Teresa Hawthorne told News 8 that she was very upset when she heard that Cason had been released from the jail due to his potential danger to the public.
Cason’s case is assigned to Hawthorne’s court. She says she was out of town when she was notified by prosecutors of the release.
“All I know is I didn’t let him out,” she said prior to him being recaptured. “I would not have let him out. …I just think that anybody that has access needs to be extremely careful. It happens but it rarely happens. It’s just that this time it happens to be someone that’s extremely dangerous and that really concerns me tremendously.”
First Assistant District Attorney Messina Madson says prosecutors became aware of the mistaken release after someone in the community contacted the DA's office on Wednesday, Aug. 24. The DA's office, in turn, contacted the sheriff's department and a warrant was issued for Cason's arrest, Madson said.
The sheriff's department says they were actually first notified of the release when they were contacted by News 8 Thursday morning.
Cason has been charged with manslaughter in the death of Dr. Ruth Anne MarDock, who was tackled and beaten at Timberlawn Mental Health System, Dallas' largest psychiatric hospital, on June 30.
Police say the attack happened after Cason was told he would be transferred to another facility.
The incident was recorded on video. It showed Cason in the hallway outside his room when the doctor came around the corner. Cason tackled her and she hit her head on the floor, losing consciousness, police say. MarDock, 63, died two days after the attack.
Cason was initially arrested for aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury. He was then charged with manslaughter after the doctor died.
“We process in about a 100,000 people,” says Sgt. Chris Dyer, president of the Dallas County Sheriff’s Association. "We process out about a 100,000 people and that’s all done by a handful of clerks and you can’t take out that human factor. People are going to make mistakes.”
He also added that just as important to improperly releasing anyone is ensuring that the jail doesn’t hold anyone longer than legally allowed.