OPELOUSAS, La. — A St. Landry Parish family is questioning why a man is still in jail despite being acquitted on murder charges.
Davien Bell was set free in October after he was acquitted in connection with a fatal shooting from March 2016, but shortly after he was released he was brought back into custody.
Two months later he's still in jail.
"He spent three years and eight months in prison..wrongfully," Bell's uncle Chanse Joubert said.
Bell's family says those years are moments they can't get back. However, in October when Bell was set free they were hoping they could make new memories.
"He was free off all charges," Joubert said. "The next morning we received a phone call that he needed to go back to jail and be released properly."
However, Bell hasn't been released. According to the District Attorney, he's being held on other pending charges.
"On March 21, 2016 Damien Bell was arrested at the Yambilee building on theft and possession of an illegal firearm," Joubert said. "Two days later his father received a phone call that he needed to report to an interrogation station because they had evidence connecting him to the homicide."
"He's been acquitted of murder charges and they're still detaining him based on something he allegedly did," Bell's mother Michelle Joubert said. "They could've handled that in court, during the three years he was there and they didn't."
According to the D.A., it wasn't until after Bell's release that they realized he had pending charges. Jury selection for those charges is set for February.
"He been in there for three years and eight months," said Bell's father David Wayne Bell Sr. "He missed a lot of holidays, friendships and everything. What they're doing is not justice. "
