Murder Inmate Mistakenly Released Recaptured in Nevada

A murder suspect who was mistakenly released from the downtown Los Angeles jail complex in late January was captured Monday in Boulder City, Nev.

According to the sheriff’s department, Steven Lawrence Wright was arrested around midday at a Boulder City hotel by officers from an array of law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the Henderson, Boulder City and Las Vegas police departments.

Wright, 37, was booked into a Nevada jail, where he will remain pending an extradition hearing to have him returned to Los Angeles. Sheriff’s officials said no additional charges are expected to be filed against him.

Wright, of Pasadena, was released from the sheriff’s Inmate Reception Center at 12:55 p.m. Jan. 30, according to the sheriff’s department. Sheriff’s officials didn’t detect the error until about 9:30 p.m. Jan. 31.

Sheriff’s official said Wright, who had been in custody facing a murder charge, was sentenced to five days in jail after a contempt of court conviction. When he was transferred to the Inmate Reception Center from court, the paperwork sent with him contained an error that made it appear he was due to be released on the murder case, not the contempt case, even though a note with corrected information was handwritten on the bottom of the form.

Wright was arrested April 7, 2011, as part of a gang sweep by Pasadena police. He is suspected in the Jan. 19, 2011, killing of Pasadena resident Donnell Taylor.

Wright was one of eight suspected gang members arrested in the sweep, which resulted from an investigation into a series of shootings, including Taylor’s killing and an attempted murder in Altadena on March 15, 2011.

--City News Service, photo courtesy of the LASD