KISSIMMEE, Fla. — A man who was convicted of murder in Georgia and mistakenly released from jail was taken back into custody in Florida.
The U.S. Marshals Office arrested Kathan Guzman overnight at his mother’s house in Kissimmee, Florida, according to Action News Jax’s sister station, WSB-TV in Atlanta.
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Guzman was convicted in October of the 2022 killing of his ex-girlfriend, 19-year-old Delila Grayson, and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
The two were from Central Florida, went to the same high school, and Grayson’s mother, Christina Grayson, told Action News Jax sister station WFTV in Orlando that she felt like “a sitting duck” after learning of Guzman’s mistaken release.
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Clayton County Sheriff Levon Allen told WSB that staff looked at a court document for another charge that showed a motion to nolle prosse, or not prosecute.
Had they looked further, they would have seen that the jury convicted Guzman on felony murder and aggravated assault.
But Christina Grayson told WFTV the story doesn’t line up.
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She points out that 5 months after Guzman was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison, he was still in a Georgia county jail, not a state prison.
While he was out of custody, Christina Grayson said her family was sleeping in shifts and kept a firearm close by, because they worried Guzman could retaliate for the role the family played in his trial.
When WSB asked the sheriff how Guzman could think he wasn’t wanted by police, Allen said they learned Guzman told someone that “God is good” and believed his release was the result of a higher power.
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