On the first day of testimony in the murder trial of Jonathan Bun, prosecutors re-created the moment of Clayton County Sheriff Deputy Richard “Rick” Daly’s death.
The hands of Daly’s wife, Cheryl Daly, trembled and clutched those of her son Toby Daly and her daughter-in-law Janaya Daly as they listened to the deputy’s last radio transmission before he was gunned down.
“I’ll be coming around on him on Walker [Street],” Daly said in the police dispatch audio recording played Tuesday afternoon in the courtroom of Clayton Superior Court Judge Deborah Benefield.
Moments later, an investigator with the Sheriff’s fugitive squad was shouting for help into the radio amid apparent gunfire.
“Shots fired! Shots fired!” the radio reverberated. “Officer down.”
Bun, now 18, is accused of shooting Daly twice on July 20, killing the deputy who was attempting to serve an arrest warrant for a previous alleged armed robbery.
“His attack was vicious, violent and cowardly,” Clayton County Assistant District Attorney Jason Green told the jury Tuesday during his opening statement. “Evidence will show that Jonathan Bun knew exactly what he had done.”
Defense attorney Lloyd Matthews didn’t give an opening statement Tuesday morning to rebut a Clayton prosecutor’s assertion that the then-17-year-old’s fatal attack on Daly was deliberate and cruel.
What followed the shooting that July afternoon was an hours-long manhunt in a wooded area just outside Riverdale as police from a dozen metro Atlanta agencies responded to the “officer down” call and searched for Bun.
Bun is charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault of a peace officer, gun possession while committing a felony and a host of other charges. If convicted in the death of the more-than 20-year police veteran, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
Prosecutors called 11 of its planned 37 witnesses to the stand Tuesday.
Three Clayton Sheriff’s deputies Tuesday testified they saw Bun shoot Daly.
Deputy Minh Doan fought back sobs from the witness stand as he described watching his partner gunned down.
“I heard gunshots … two times,” Doan said, crying as he spoke. “I observed Deputy Daly … step back a couple of steps … and fall onto the ground.”
Doan said Bun, who was about 20 feet away, aimed at him next.
“I saw the offender point the gun in my face,” he said, saying his eyes met Bun’s.
Doan ducked behind the dashboard of his patrol car, got out and came up firing at Bun, the deputy testified.
Another witness, Barbara Trimble, was leaving her nearby home with her husband and saw the stop. Trimble testified she couldn’t identify the shooter, but was at a stop sign facing the traffic stop when she saw the shooting.
“[Daly] leaned over, talking down into the car,” Trimble said. “That’s when we heard the ‘pop, pop,’ and the deputy’s arms flew up and over his head.”
Toan Nyguen said he was driving the car Bun was riding in that day. When Daly’s patrol car flashed its lights at them, Nyguen, who was 19 at the time, told jurors he saw Bun pull out and cock a semi-automatic handgun.
“I told him, ‘Don’t do anything stupid,’” Nyugen said. “I tried to grab him.”
But Nyugen said Daly never made it to the window of his car.
Two other deputies at the scene -- undercover investigators with the fugitive squad whose names cannot be disclosed per court order -- had initiated the stop and were in an unmarked pickup truck behind Doan’s car.
Doan said Daly walked as he approached the car Bun was in. One of the fugitive investigators testified that Daly ran up to the car as Bun tried to get out, and the other said Daly shuffled toward the car.
Defense attorney Matthews questioned each of the deputies highlighting the differences in their stories, as well as the other witnesses.
“Where was Deputy Daly when the shots were fired?” he asked one witness, varying the question slightly for others.
But five people who saw the shooting were in one accord when Matthews asked them if Daly reached for his firearm. “No,” they each answered from the stand.
Doan described Daly’s final moments.
After he handcuffed a startled and submissive Nyugen, he went to his fallen partner’s side.
“I said, ‘Daly, I’m here. Open your eyes and talk to me,’” Doan said as he choked back tears. “He looked at me and responded with his eyes. But he never talked to me. I said, ‘Rescue is on the way.’”
Judge Benefield called for evening recess just before 6 p.m. Tuesday. The trial will resume at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
About the Author
