Bond set for ex-Atlanta cop charged with murder

The former Atlanta police officer charged with murdering an unarmed black man will be released from the Fulton County Jail on a $240,000 bond set by a magistrate judge in a hearing Thursday.

ExploreFulton Magistrate Court Judge Karen Smith Woodson also required James R. Burns to give up his passport and ordered him not to have any contact with the family of Deravis Caine Rogers, who Burns shot June 22.

Burns has been jailed at the Fulton County Jail since Saturday, when he turned himself in in connection with a case that threatened to become a flash point in protests against police use of force. He is charged with murder, aggravated assault and violation of his oath of office in the shooting death of the 22-year-old Rogers, who was shot in his car as he drove away from the officer on a northeast Atlanta street.

An internal affairs investigation conducted by the Atlanta Police Department determined that Burns did not have a reasonable fear for his life, and concluded that shooting Rogers was an unnecessary and excessive use of force. Burns was fired July 1, and Fulton County Disrict Attorney Paul Howard took the unusual step of charging him with murder July 15, before the case was brought to a grand jury.

Burns was formally read the charges against him at a jail hearing Monday, and has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Aug. 1.

ExploreRead more about the case here.

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