Velas Could Not Get Charged for Murder???

Third time is a charm?? I guess that is the case here where Jedediah L. Velas twice attempted to surrender himself to Ohio County Prosecutor Scott Smith after learning Monday he likely would be indicted on murder charges in the death of his girlfriend's 4-year-old daughter.

So what went wrong? According to Wheeling Attorney Martin Sheehan on Monday Velas was named in a multi-count Ohio County grand jury indictment charging him with murder and after the grand jury was dismissed Velas' bond was set at $250,000; that is when Velas's efforts to get arrested began.

His first attempt was on January 14th where he went to surrender and the Ohio County Prosecutor Scott Smith and was told "to contact him in the morning and that immediate surrender was not needed." Then on January 15th Velas returned and met with Mr. Smith and attempted to get a copy of the indictment and was unable to get one from Mr. Smith or the clerk's office. At that point Velas was told to go to the Stat Police Barracks and wait to be arrested. Velas went to the state Police barracks where he was told to leave. Velas even left a phone number for him to be contacted. It was not until 4 p.m. that day before the proper warrant was issued by the court for Velas' arrest, at which time he returned again to the State Police barracks and was arrested.

Regardless of the fact that a child was involved and the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty I would have to say that Velas is not a flight risk and will probably be out of the Northern Regional Jail by sometime next week. If nothing else I have to give him credit for doing the right thing. This is a case where the possibility of a crime could have easily become a man hunt as well. Velas could have easily fled and not been heard from again in a very long time.

This is a murder case involving the death of a child and should have been handled immediately. The families, both the Velas' and the girlfriend's family, have enough to deal with without having the justice system screw up.