The grand jury heard testimony from witnesses, including two teens who were present at the stabbing and the investigating detective, according to the county prosecutor’s office. The grand jury on Tuesday returned a “no true bill,” a rejection of the proposed indictments, thus halting the prosecution.
Prosecutors said that, by law, they are not allowed to comment on grand jury testimony.
James Heflin Jr., 67, was originally charged with murder, felonious assault and weapons charges. Heflin has been in the county jail since he was arrested early Oct. 9.
Heflin reportedly told his family he stabbed Mister Dewayne Martin-Sydnor when the teen jumped at him Saturday night.
He said three boys taunted and harassed him and ordered him to empty his pockets.
In a phone call to his daughter, he said one of the three jumped toward him “so he acted out of impulse ... he was real scared,” Jane Marzette, Heflin’s daughter, told the Dayton Daily News last week.
The stabbing occurred at the Strafford Place Apartments on Guenther Road. Dayton police said Heflin was arrested in another person’s apartment at the complex and refused to speak with detectives.
Heflin has a long criminal record. He was sentenced to eight to 25 years in prison in 1983 for aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary. He was released in April 1993 after serving a little more than seven years.
Within months, he was convicted of felonious assault for shooting three people and sentenced to 30 to 48 years. He was released in February 2008 after serving 15 years.
Heflin also had a breaking-and-entering conviction in 1973.
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