Years of anguish end with arrest of new suspect in 2010...

Seven years after Lydell Grant was sentenced to life in prison for murder, authorities said Friday they have arrested the man they believe actually killed a 28-year-old man outside a bar in Montrose in 2010.

Grant, 42, was convicted of murdering Aaron Scheerhoorn in 2012, after six eyewitnesses testified that they saw him stab Scheerhoorn outside Blur Bar just before midnight Dec. 10, 2010. Grant spent years protesting the charge, spending thousands of hours in prison libraries writing jailhouse appeals.

Defense attorneys from the Innocence Project of Texas ultimately took his case and asked for new DNA analysis, which they compared against national databases. The results, they said, ruled Grant out as a potential suspect — and matched the profile of a man with a criminal past who had lived in Houston at the time of the murder.

That finally convinced prosecutors and detectives from the Houston Police Department to review the case. Days before Thanksgiving, Grant was released on bond while detectives continued to re-investigate the case. On Friday, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said police had tracked down and arrested 41-year-old Jermarico Carter in Georgia.

Carter admitted to the killing after his arrest, Ogg said, and will face murder charges. Carter has been in and out of jail over the last 17 years on a range of offenses including evading arrest, burglary of a habitation and possessions of cocaine. His lengthy criminal record spans Texas, Georgia and South Carolina. He also spent time in Louisiana.

Background: Man convicted in 2010 Montrose murder hopes to leave custody while Innocence Project of Texas pursues exoneration

“The highest responsibility of a prosecutor is to see that justice is done and insuring that we have the correct individual charged is a baseline responsibility,” Ogg said. “We look forward to presenting this new evidence in court and obtaining justice for Scheerhoorn’s family.”

Prosecutors would begin seeking to exonerate Grant “immediately,” Ogg said.

Grant and his brother, Alonzo Poe, had been driving to a Wal-Mart to do errands when they received the news.

“It was just relief,” Grant said. “I was relieved of all anguish, all turmoil.”

He recounted appeal after appeal, denial after denial.

“I went in actually innocent, and I came out actually innocent,” he said. “Through it all - I went down there fighting. The court of appeals denied me. I appealed their decision — was denied. I filed an 1107, a writ of habeus corpus — was denied. I filed 2254 petition to federal court — was denied. These folks denied me every step of my appeal, until I reached out to the Innocence Project of Texas and they were able to bring justice to the light. And I thank God that justice has been served.”

HPD Chief Art Acevedo apologized to Grant, and said he hopes the new charge brings closure to Scheerhorn’s family.

Grant said he couldn’t help but think about the years he spent proclaiming his innocence, however, and his fight to be heard.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Lydell Grant, convicted in 2010 Montrose slaying, freed from prison as case is reinvestigated

He has started writing a book, he said. Before he went to prison, he had loved writing, composing and rapping — and he hopes to begin doing that again sometime soon.

Despite the years he spent behind bars, he isn’t angry, he said.

“I just thank God the DA did the right thing,” he said. “I know it wasn’t them who did it (years ago) … I have the advantage to forgive and continue to love, and that’s why I’m not mad.

Mike Ware, executive director of the Innocence Project of Texas, said the news is a welcome vindication.

“I’m very happy for Lydell and his family,” he said. “Since 2010 he’s been depicted honestly in media and otherwise as this monster who committed this murder that he in fact had nothing to do with. And he’s been telling everyone he’s had nothing to do with it for the last 10 years.”

Carter’s arrest also showed the how the criminal justice should work, he said.

“I never cease to be amazed by modern science and what it can do when applied correctly and done right,” he said. “As opposed to what we unfortunately see in court so much - which is junk science.”

st.john.smith@chron.com