A man charged with providing a false alibi for the accused shooter in a Morristown homicide last month was ordered released from the Morris County Jail.
“You should not understand my decision to release as approval of anything that happened in the course of this scenario,” Superior Court Judge Thomas Critchley Jr. told Myles Dacres during a virtual hearing on Monday.
But the judge said he could find no “clear and convincing” argument for holding Dacres in the county lockup, because there is no indication he “aided, abetted or encouraged” the shooting of Raijah Scott on Aug. 18, 2021.
Dacres may remain in custody, however: Federal authorities on Monday filed an arrest warrant and placed a detainer on him. They consider his third-degree charge of hindering apprehension/prosecution as a violation of his parole for a 2019 federal weapons conviction, according to the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office.
Sentenced to 27 months behind bars for that offense, Dacres was released from federal prison in June on probation that extends to May 2024.
At the prosecutor’s request, Critchley imposed three conditions for Dacres’ release on the Morristown charge: No weapons, a voluntary return to New Jersey for prosecution if he leaves the state, and no contact with accused killer Tyrell Lansing or DeQuan McDaniel.
Those two were arrested in Tulsa, OK, a day after the shooting and are awaiting extradition to Morris County.
Dacres, masked and wearing eyeglasses, accepted Critchley’s conditions via video from the county jail.
No motive has been given for the shooting, ruled a homicide by the Morris County Medical Examiner’s Office. Scott, 35, of Cedar Knolls, was found face-down on Clyde Potts Drive, shot multiple times.
Assistant Prosecutor Tara Wang argued against releasing Dacres, a 24-year-old Morristown High School graduate. His criminal record makes him a risk to the public. He’s likely to flee prosecution, while continuing to obstruct the investigation, Wang said.
Dacres’ false statement to police in the hours after the shooting, before the accused shooter’s identity was known and before surveillance video was reviewed fully, “had a real impact on a dynamic and active investigation, which is of great concern to the safety of the community,” Wang contended.
Police say Dacres gave this account:
Lansing, 27, of Morristown, was driven home about 40 minutes before the 1 am shooting. The fatal shots were fired by an unknown Hispanic male, after Dacres had “wrestled” with him in the passenger seat of a Land Rover owned by Dacres’ mother. Feeling a gun, Dacres walked around the vehicle. The unknown male opened fire on Scott and drove off, after Dacres refused to drive and exited the Land Rover.
But video shows Dacres and Lansing standing in front of the vehicle moments before the shooting, Wang said. And nobody is seen wrestling, she asserted.
Alcohol may have muddled Dacres’ statements to police, implied defense lawyer Mark Bailey.
He said Dacres had been “drinking and hanging out” all day with some men at the gathering. Earlier on that day, he “tried to seize something” while wrestling with Scott, the victim, Bailey said, citing police reports.
Advocating for his client’s release, Bailey emphasized Dacres’ local ties, saying he resides in Morristown. (Authorities have said Parsippany). Arrested last week at his workplace, Dacres has been paying his debt to society by working to support a 2-year-old daughter, Bailey said.
“The charge is not conspiracy to commit murder. I’m sure if the state thought they had enough evidence to prove it or to charge my client…they would have,” Bailey told the judge.
Dacres’ rap sheet, according to Wang, includes 2015 convictions for conspiracy to commit theft (third degree) and drug possession (fourth degree), and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault in 2017. He was sentenced that year to probation on those charges.
While on probation, he was indicted in 2019 on a federal charge of possessing a weapon as a felon. The weapon was a Rossi .357 caliber magnum handgun with six rounds of ammunition, carried on July 4 of that year in Morris County, the indictment states.
Dacres pleaded guilty. The plea stipulated that any parole violation could bring two years imprisonment.
His record also includes a 2014 theft as a juvenile, Wang said.
