A Washington, D.C., man who was supposed to have been under house arrest awaiting trial on gun charges was able to escape his home undetected when a court technician accidentally put the man’s ankle monitor on his fake leg. Police say the mistake allowed the suspect to leave the leg behind in his home as he went out to commit a murder.

According to Fox 59, Quincy Green was arrested in April and given home confinement as his case was scheduled to be heard. To keep him in his home, the court ordered an ankle monitor to be placed on his person. Police discovered, however, that the court technician placed the monitor over Green’s sock instead of directly against his skin–a violation of procedure.

As it happens, the leg the technician chose was Green’s prosthetic leg. Police say that Green just changed prosthetics, allowing him to leave the home at will while police continued to read his signal as remaining at his home.

The court technician’s mistake turned deadly, police allege, when on the night of May 19, Green shot and killed Dana Hamilton after a night of drinking.

Police pointed to surveillance video showing the 44-year-old drinking with a group of men. The group then got into a van and ended up at the victim’s apartment building.

After being called for the shooting, and finding Green at the scene, police realized their ankle bracelet signal still showed him at home. After obtaining a search warrant, police later found the prosthetic leg with the ankle monitor affixed to it sitting in a box in his room.

No motive was given for the shooting, but it was likely due to the alcohol consumption.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.