'Santa shooter' says he's paying the price after being found innocent

DETROIT (WJBK) - He became known as the "Santa shooter" for firing at a man who was coming after his female friend while dressed in a Christmas costume.

Marcus Weldon was acquitted as it was found he acted in self-defense. But more than a year later, he's still having trouble returning to a life of normalcy.

Someone dropped the ball in Marcus Weldon's case and he's the one paying the price for it after a jury found he did nothing wrong in a self-defense shooting that captured headlines.

Had it not been for a routine traffic stop, Weldon would not have known he was still trapped in the court system.

"The officer informed me I was under some restriction of bond that I had some PPO or something in my name," Weldon said. "He asked if I had any firearms and if he could search the car."

More than a year after being exonerated in a self-defense shooting, Marcus Weldon is still aiming for justice.

He learned the Third Circuit Court and consequently, Michigan State Police, still had him listed as being free on bond after a state trooper pulled him over a few weeks ago.

That bond should have been cleared the day a Wayne County jury found him not guilty on seven felony charges.

"There's no way there should be a 15-month lag from the time he was exonerated till even today it's still not completely set," Weldon said.

Weldon and his lawyer Terry Johnson thought they got the bond situation cleared up last summer after he applied for his CPL but was denied because of the error in the court and law enforcement records.

But when Weldon applied for his CPL a second time about six months later, he ran into the same problem.

"We're thinking it's a simple mistake," said his attorney. "Someone just didn't check the box. We thought we had it corrected and we go back and they still don't do the job they're supposed to do. And Mr. Weldon, as a result of this, can't carry a concealed firearm, is still considered out on bond."

And that's not all. Weldon cannot leave the country or even the state under those bond conditions without risking arrest and being thrown in jail. It is something he was unaware of, when he traveled to Atlanta for the NRA convention in May.

"I really shouldn't have been out of the state, which I didn't know," he said. "I could have ended up in a county jail. In Atlanta.

The 3rd circuit court clerk’s office gave different explanations for the yearlong mix up

First saying it had no clue why Weldon’s bond wasn't cleared, and then blaming the person who posted the bond for not coming in to release it, then finally suggesting Michigan state police did not update its records. This is something MSP denies.

Johnson ran into the same issue during a visit to the court Thursday.

"One department would say something, 'Well we did our job and another would say well we did our job,'" his attorney said. "'Well you got to go over here, you got to go to 36th District court.' it was a lot of finger pointing. We're hoping that we finally got it right.”

Until then Weldon has a message for the court system that dropped the ball in his case.

"Do what's right," he said. "It's unbelievable. Is this justice? Is this really justice?"

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We reached out to the Wayne County Clerk's office they are vowing to get to the bottom of this issue. Weldon cannot apply for his CPL again until January.

And he still has not gotten his firearm back after being cleared in that self-defense shooting in December of 2014.