By JIM BUTLER
Joemarko James has posted bond and been released from what has become an annual stay at the Rapides Jail.
Those stays began in November 2016 and extend through Aug. 22 this year.
Most recently, James posted $12,500 bond the day after booking on charges of possession of firearm by a convicted felon and illegal possession of a stolen firearm.
A decade ago James, then of Leesville, was stopped on Interstate 10 in Lake Charles, allegedly in possession of 540 grams of cocaine.
But James, 37, now of Alexandria, is most widely recalled for events in the wake of a Levin Street shooting in October 2016.
He allegedly shot three men. A child present was injured by flying shattered glass. James fled the city with four attempted murder charges in his wake.
James was tracked down and arrested in Houston in November 2016, pleaded not guilty in early 2017 to attempted murder charges and got a trial date of May 2018.
In April 2017 one of the adults shot on Levin Street died, significantly changing the tenor of the case.
Prosecutors amended charges against James, and a murder indictment was returned in November 2017.
At a February 2018 arraignment James, not yet formally in custody, was a no show.
In March U.S. Marshals found and arrested him in Chicago and he was returned to Rapides.
His bail was set at $20 million – an acknowledgement of flight risk – and he was in jail until October, when James was re-charged, this time with murder 2nd degree or non-negligent manslaughter. He was released on Oct. 21, records show.
Seven months later, June 2020, he was charged in Chambers County, Texas (Anahuac) with possession of CDS more than four grams but less than 200 and possession of marijuana.
Then in January 2021 he was back in Rapides custody, charged with possessing or possessing with intent to distribute CDS II, two counts of firearm in possession of a convicted felon, two counts of illegal carrying a weapon, resisting an officer, flight from an officer, two counts of contempt of court and several traffic violations. He posted $64,000 bond three days later.
He was back in June 2022, charged with flight from an officer, possession of stolen things, criminal trespass, two counts of contempt of court and several traffic charges. He posted $25,700 the same day.