I'm glad the state is looking at these cases from the standpoint of the likelihood of conviction.

Wendell "Dooney" Mitchell entered Judge Don Poole's courtroom Friday wearing jail clothes and shackles, but within a few hours his 350-plus days in jail were over and so was the first-degree murder charge against him.

Prosecutors asked Poole to drop murder and weapons charges against Mitchell, 42, in the 2014 stabbing death of 23-year-old Jeffery "Hot Dog" Jackson.

Mitchell's case is the third homicide case prosecutors have dismissed in less than a month.

Wendell "Dooney" Mitchell is charged with the July murder of 23-year-old Jeffery "Hot Dog" James.

Cameron Williams, a violent-crimes prosecutor for District Attorney Neal Pinkston's office, said the state felt it couldn't get a conviction against Mitchell. He said DNA evidence was inconclusive, and a witness who led police to Mitchell had given conflicting statements. Williams said the witness now denies writing down the nickname of the man he saw nearby when Jackson collapsed on the sidewalk. Another alleged witness couldn't be found, Williams told Poole.

"The state feels we can't move forward with the case," Williams told the judge.

Poole dismissed the case without prejudice, which means the charges against Mitchell could be brought up again later.

Now, "the investigation into the homicide of Jeffery Jackson will continue by both the Chattanooga Police Department and the state of Tennessee," Williams said.

He said he already had warned Jackson's sister that a dismissal was likely, and that "she was very upset" about the possibility.

Mitchell's attorney, Brandy Spurgin, welcomed the ruling.

"I'm glad the state is looking at these cases from the standpoint of the likelihood of conviction," Spurgin said after the hearing.

Two other cases were dismissed in July for lack of evidence.

On July 9, the DA's office asked for dismissal of criminal homicide and aggravated assault charges against Bruce Stevenson, who had been charged in the murder of his longtime lover, an elementary school volunteer, in College Hill Courts.

Stevenson, 58, was charged in the April beating and slashing death of Rosa Chatman, 56. The pair had been in an on-again, off-again relationship for around 20 years, authorities said, and had a history of domestic violence.

Assistant district attorney Lance Pope said in court that Stevenson's arrest was based on circumstantial evidence that had not "developed favorably for the state" in the three weeks following the arrest. Those charges also could be brought back again if further evidence develops.

On July 16, the DA's office also asked for dismissal of criminal homicide charges against Chester Phelps, 19, who was arrested in the slaying last year of Charles J. King. On June 25, 2014, Chattanooga police responding to an unconscious person call found King's body in an SUV. He had been shot in the head.

Police discovered that Phelps was the last person to be seen with King, just hours before his death, according to an affidavit in the case.

But the motion to dismiss states that the district attorney "told the police there is not currently sufficient evidence to charge Mr. Phelps for the homicide of Mr. King."

On Friday, Williams said there was no problem with the way the Chattanooga Police Department investigated the Jackson slaying and that the other two cases were dismissed "for their own reasons."

According to witnesses' statements, Mitchell and Jackson got in a fight on July 27, 2014. Witnesses said Jackson punched Mitchell in the face because Mitchell was choking an elderly man outside the apartment complex at 2525 Sixth Ave.

The two walked away from that scuffle, but later that night Jackson was seen running from Mitchell and then collapsing on the sidewalk. Jackson died later at a local hospital.

Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or twitter.com/BenBenton or www.facebook.com/ben.benton1 or 423-757-6569.