Judge revokes bond for murder suspect who led police on chase after jail release

CHARLOTTE — Charlotte murder suspect Michael Sio-Somah, 16, did not appear for his bond hearing Tuesday morning.

Sio-Somah was out on bond after his murder charge, then was arrested again after a police chase. The Mecklenburg County courts granted the murder suspect bond again.

The same judge who granted him the previous bond revoked it on Tuesday.

Sio-Somah did not show up for court because he has COVID-19, his attorney told the judge on Tuesday.

Attorney Norman Butler said his client, who was supposed to be on house arrest, was on his way to a hospital early Friday morning when a Cabarrus County deputy tried to pull him over for speeding on Highway 49.

Sio-Somah didn’t stop, leading authorities on a high-speed chase, and was later apprehended.

“He tells me that when the police got behind him, he panicked, and he did, certainly, an irrational thing,” Butler said.

Police said Sio-Somah shot and killed Calvin Haines, 24, in June 2019 outside a graduation party in uptown Charlotte. Sio-Somah walked out of jail six months later after his family posted a $300,000 bond.

[‘A slap in the face’: Charlotte murder suspect supposed to be on house arrest leads deputies on high-speed chase]

Haines’ mother said it hurt.

“When Michael Sio-Somah was freed on bond last year, I never got a good night’s rest,” Kou Weasah said.

Judge Robert Bell had made that call, but on Tuesday morning, prosecutor Terra Varnes told him that Friday’s arrest changed everything.

“With that chance you gave him, he has proven that he is a danger to public safety, and he cannot be trusted with this court’s mercy,” Varnes said.

Bell agreed and revoked the murder suspect’s bond.

“Now I can finally sleep,” Weasah said. “I can finally sleep knowing that some kind of justice is coming to Calvin.”

‘A slap in the face’: Charlotte murder suspect supposed to be on house arrest leads deputies on high-speed chase

Cox Media Group