Dominick Marquis Archield is a free man after four years of sitting in the county jail without a trial on murder and attempted murder charges.
Archield walked out the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center before 5 p.m. on Nov. 20 after a judge signed off on an agreement between his attorney and prosecutors to allow Archield's release on a $100,000 signature bond, according to court and jail records. North Charleston police accused him of committing murder in 2019 and shooting a 49-year-old man in 2020 while he was out on bond in the murder case.
Racial Justice Network President James Johnson told The Post and Courier he spoke with Archield after his release. Johnson said the 39-year-old man told him "he was out and free," and that the murder, attempted murder and weapons charges will be dropped.
Archield's bond order comes as a signal that his charges may be dismissed for a lack of evidence, said Melisa Gay, one of Archield's former attorneys.
A press conference will be held sometime next week in front of 9th Solicitor Scarlett Wilson's office to discuss Archield's cases, Johnson said. Archield and his family will be in attendance as they demand Wilson's office bring cases older than two years immediately to trial or agree to release those defendants from jail, he said.
Archield was released through a Nov. 20 consent order between his attorney, John Kozelski, and Jordan Norvell, the assistant solicitor on the case. Archield's bail form requiring him to appear before a judge on a future date was left unchecked and undated.
Kozelski declined to comment.
Wilson was not immediately available for comment.
North Charleston police accused Archield in 2019 of killing Denali Berries Stuckey, a 29-year-old transgender woman, outside of a club. Archield turned himself into police and was later granted bond.
Police arrested him again in late 2020, accusing him of trying to kill a 49-year-old man who was returning to his apartment. The man was shot in the head and chest several times. Police said the man identified Archield as the shooter after regaining consciousness six days later.
Archield spent the next four years in jail as judges rejected his requests for bond. Along the way, his family and Johnson maintained that the case by police and prosecutors was built on weak and circumstantial evidence.
The sudden reversal of the prosecutor's position to agree to a signature bond signals the case against Archield supports the defense's claims, Gay said.
"It's just insane to wait this long," Gay said of the likely dismissal of the cases.
Johnson said Archield had witnesses who corroborated his alibi in both cases.
Norvell stated in court in 2023 she could bring the case to trial in January, The Post and Courier previously reported. Prosecutors previously offered a plea deal to Archield.
This summer, Ninth Circuit Judge Deadra Jefferson denied Archield's motions for bond, for the case to be dismissed and for a speedy trial, according to court records.
Wilson previously told The Post and Courier that delays in bringing Archield's case to trial were complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic's effects on the circuit's case backlog and Archield's hiring and firing of attorneys.