Texas man, 46, exonerated for 2010 murder is now accused of shooting man dead

A Texas man who was acquitted of a stabbing outside a bar in 2010 after serving more than seven years in prison is now charged with shooting another man to death in a traffic accident.

Houston police say Lydell Grant, 46, and an unidentified woman were leaving a corner store around 11:50 p.m. Thursday when he passed a stop sign, causing a Toyota to hit him.

Grant then reportedly got out of the car and fired several shots through the Toyota’s windshield, before getting back into his car and driving off.

The driver of the Toyota, 33-year-old Edwin Arevalo, was pronounced dead at the scene and Grant is now being held on $1 million bond on charges of murder.

The suspect had been released from prison earlier in 2019 for the murder of 28-year-old Aaron Scheerhoon, for which he was eventually found innocent.

Authorities say Grant ran a stop sign, causing a Toyota to hit him. He then reportedly got out of the car and fired shots at the Toyota, killing 33-year-old Edwin Arevalo.

Authorities are pictured at the scene of the shooting near the intersection of Hiram Clarke Road and Brentwood Park Drive

Grant was convicted of stabbing Scheerhorn outside a Montrose bar in 2012 after six eyewitnesses to the stabbing two years earlier positively identified him as the attacker and testified against him in court.

Police said Scheerhoorn was sent away from the club and witnesses at the time told investigators they saw Grant stab him a few more times before he fled. Grant was convicted in 2012.

But he was released from prison in 2019, nearly eight years into his life sentence, after the Innocence Project of Texas analyzed DNA evidence on the victim’s fingernails — which didn’t pinpoint Grant as the perpetrator.

Police then arrested Jermaico Carter for Scheerhorn’s murder and tracked him down in Atlanta, Georgia, where he confessed to the murder.

“A prosecutor’s highest responsibility is to make sure justice is done and making sure the right person is charged is a basic responsibility,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement at the time.

Grant’s attorney, Mike Ware, who is also the executive director of the Innocence Project, also said, “We are relieved that Lydell’s wrongful conviction has had this important breakthrough.”

Grant was eventually found not guilty by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in May 2021, while Carter pleaded guilty to Scheerhorn’s murder last year.

Grant was released on bail in 2019 after a new analysis of DNA on the victim’s fingernails indicated his innocence in the murder of 28-year-old Aaron Scheerhoorn

Grant (center), his mother Donna Poe (second from left), and his brother Alonzo Poe (right) celebrated after he was released from prison in 2019

Jermarico Carter (left) later confessed to killing Aaron Scheerhoorn (right).

But investigators now say surveillance footage of the crash near the intersection of Hiram Clarke Road and Brentwood Park Drive helped them identify Grant as the suspect in the shooting, and he was arrested Friday.

His defense now argues that for the past six months, Grant has been running his own cleaning business and helping to support his mother.

The last time there was an indictment on his criminal record, they argued in court, was in 2009.

A spokesperson for the Innocence Project of Texas said this ABC 13 in a statement: “We are saddened by the news of this tragic event and our thoughts and condolences go out to the victim’s family.

“As this is an ongoing investigation, we are unable to comment on the details of this incident,” the spokesperson added.

But he noted, “We support Mr. Grant’s previous exemption, which was granted by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.”