The Butler County District Attorney dropped two cases against a Butler man accused of running from city police after finding there wasn't enough evidence to prosecute him.

On March 6, police were searching for suspects in an assault when they stopped James Howard-George, 27. He allegedly ran away from police and left his backpack behind, which police said had a gun in it. A few weeks later, on March 31, police arrested Howard-George after an alleged foot chase.

For the first incident, Howard-George was charged with possession of a firearm without a carry license, a felony, and resisting arrest, a misdemeanor, and in the second case he was charged with flight to avoid apprehension.

But Assistant District Attorney Robert Zanella requested earlier this month a judge drop the two cases, citing a lack of “prosecutorial merit” in both of them.

Zanella couldn't be reached for comment.

When Howard-George was arrested, a district judge posted his bond at $100,000, and he spent the next several months in Butler County Prison unable to make the payment. On Nov. 13, his bond was reduced to a nonmonetary one.

Howard-George was previously paroled for his part in helping to burn and hide the body of Melissa Barto, who was murdered by his friend, Ishemer Ramsey, in 2017. Howard-George pleaded guilty in 2019 to charges of abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence and was sentenced Jan. 30 to jail with immediate parole.