Gwinnett deputies on Wednesday arrested a 22-year-old Buford man wanted on murder charges in the September 2007 beating death of Lloyd Lee Garrison.

Joseph Hunter Hayes is accused of going to Garrison's home on Sawnee Avenue in Buford in the wee hours of Sept. 1, 2007, kicking in the door and assaulting the 55-year-old in the dark.

Prosecutors said Hunter was mad at Garrison because he believed Garrison had harmed a family member. Hayes was arrested on a murder charge. However, during a preliminary hearing last year, a Gwinnett County magistrate judge reduced the charge to voluntary manslaughter and granted a bond.

The judge reasoned that Hayes had just heard traumatic news and acted in the heat of passion. Garrison did not die until two days after the beating, when he collapsed, lost consciousness and was rushed to Gwinnett Medical Center.

In spite of the judge's decision to reduce charges against Hayes, a Gwinnett grand jury chose to indict him on a murder charge July 2. As a result, his bond was revoked and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest, said Stacey Bourbonnais, spokeswoman for the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Department.

The deputies took Hayes into custody without incident at his home on Friendship Circle in Buford, Bourbonnais said.