MIAMI – A man accused of an assassination attempt on an Opa-locka city commission candidate was set to get out of jail Friday after a Miami-Dade judge granted him bond.
Anthony Mitchell, 50, was arrested Aug. 22 on an attempted murder charge. Opa-locka police said Mitchell fired shots towards city commission candidate Chris Davis.
“This was a false arrest,” defense attorney Michael Pizzi said. “Anthony Mitchell did not shoot anybody and has never possessed a firearm of any kind.”
He added, “This was a false arrest of an innocent person. The police did a very shoddy investigation.”
The incident, police said, involved Mitchell and a friend named Tommy Johnson. The duo is accused of confronting Davis as he was returning to his home near Burlington Street.
Davis told police that Mitchell, “came out into the street and grabbed him in a headlock,” initiating a fight. At some point, Davis claims Johnson started yelling threats, causing him to run away. That’s when Davis said he “looked back and saw Johnson in a tactical, one-knee stance, appearing to get ready to shoot at him.”
Davis then jumped into his car and drove out of his driveway in an attempt not to get shot. He then heard multiple gunshots.
“Mitchell did not possess a gun,” Pizzi said. “Anthony Mitchell has never fired a shot in his entire life.”
Davis told police the argument was motivated by politics, as Mitchell and Johnson support another candidate.
Following his arrest, Mitchell was held in jail without bond; the judge reversed that decision Friday by granting him a $10,000 cash bail.
Mitchell still maintains his innocence. The case is now set to go to trial.
“Today was a really great victory for him. He’s going from being held with no bail to having dinner with his family tonight,” Pizzi said. “When someone is charged with the attempted murder of a public official and the state agrees to a $10,000 bond, it’s very telling.”
Johnson was never arrested in the case.