Jocarl Bureau had a short taste of freedom.
After making bail Friday on charges of witness tampering and domestic assault, Bureau was arrested later the same day and sent back to jail – this time accused of killing his 3-year-old daughter.
Judge Kristin Spath ordered Bureau held without bail Monday on a second-degree murder charge at Concord Circuit Court.
Bureau, 22, was arrested by Manchester police Friday afternoon in connection with the death of 3-year-old Jayleah Bureau.
Jayleah was found unresponsive after Concord police responded to emergency call from 43 Canton Circle on March 15, 2016, according to reports. At the time, Jayleah lived in the home with her mother and father. She was transported to Concord Hospital for treatment, where she was later pronounced dead.
Her death was ruled a homicide in July after an autopsy determined the cause of death as blunt-force trauma to the abdomen.
Jocarl Bureau had been in and out of jail recently as he fought other charges against him. Bureau was released on two separate $2,000 cash bonds for two cases – a witness tampering charge and a simple assault charge – on Friday prior to being arrested on the reckless murder charge.
Bureau was granted bail on a domestic assault charge from September, which he was convicted of in December, according to Merrimack County prosecutor George Waldron. Bureau was found guilty of assaulting his former girlfriend, Jayleah’s mother, and was sentenced to a year in jail, but appealed that case.
Bureau was accused of multiple incidents of assault against Jayleah’s mother, including throwing a fork at her head, grabbing her by the throat and pushing her onto the couch, and pushing her onto the bedroom floor when she was pregnant with another child, according to the affidavit in that case.
Bureau was also granted bail in a witness tampering case in which prosecutors say he shared the cellphone number of a witness in another court case.
Merrimack County Superior Court documents show that a call was made to the cellphone in an attempt to prevent the witness from testifying. Bureau was arraigned on that charge earlier this month, Waldron said. Jury selection for the witness tampering case is scheduled for March 21.
Waldron said the witness tampering charge and the simple assault charge are unrelated.
On the same day Bureau made bail, prosecutors filed a motion to revoke bail in the witness tampering case because, they said, Bureau had attempted to start a riot at the Rockingham County correctional facility.
Bureau told two other inmates they and other inmates should attempt to take over their cell block on Feb. 17, according to a Rockingham County Department of Corrections incident report. He said he had made similar attempts “multiple times” when incarcerated at the Merrimack County correctional facility. Bureau served a 24-hour lockup for the attempt, according to a separate report.
“It has also been determined that the defendant is a gang member of Gangster Disciples and is considered dangerous,” prosecutors wrote in their motion to revoke his bail.
Spath agreed to address bail at a later date because Bureau’s attorney Jeremy Clemans had not received a copy of the complaint or the arrest warrant.
Assistant Attorney General Jason Casey said he could not discuss the details of the case, such as why it took almost a year for charges to be brought after Jayleah’s death. He did say the murder charge carries a possible life sentence in prison.
Casey said probable cause hearing on the murder charge would be held within the next ten days.
(Caitlin Andrews can be reached at 369-3309, candrews@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at @ActualCAndrews.)