Buncombe County inmate found dead will have case dismissed by court, DA says

By Kari Barrows

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    BUNCOMBE COUNTY, North Carolina (WLOS) — Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams says the inmate who was found dead at the Buncombe County Detention Facility on Friday will have his case dismissed.

Robert Charles Austin, 68, who had been in the jail since August 2019, was found unresponsive in his cell by a detention officer who was making rounds. He received emergency medical care, but was pronounced dead by Buncombe County EMS.

The DA said online on Saturday that North Carolina law “directs that Mr. Austin’s criminal case will abate and be dismissed by the Court upon his passing.”

Williams says Austin’s case was calendared for jury trial the week of Oct. 25, 2021. Austin was in jail after being charged with first-degree murder in the death of a homeless man who had been set on fire in east Asheville.

“Yesterday I personally notified the family of Larry Alston that Robert Austin, the charged suspect in Larry Alston’s 2019 homicide has died,” DA Williams said online.

“I offer my condolences to both of the Alston and Austin families for their loss,” Williams continued.

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