The teen accused of shooting and killing a Clayton County sheriff's deputy has been ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, and will be moved to isolated detention for his safety.
Jonathan Bun is charged in the July 20 shooting death of Deputy Richard "Rick" Daly, 55, during a traffic stop near Riverdale Road.
During the 17-year-old’s Friday morning bond hearing, Magistrate Judge Daphne Walker ordered Bun transferred to either an infirmary or somewhere he could be held in isolation from the general population.
"I'm going to make a request that you be removed from general population for your safety," Walker said to Bun.
Bun's mother, Leering Rik, said Bun had told her about threatening comments made by jail staff at the undisclosed Henry County facility where he's being held.
"They said they were going to beat him up and said they hope he gets tortured," Rik said.
Officials from the Henry County Sheriff’s Office said Bun has been in an isolation since they've had him in custody.
"We don't believe any of that took place," sheriff's spokesman Maj. David Foster said of Rik's allegations. "He does not have an opportunity to communicate with any inmates or most of the [jail] staff."
Foster said his staff took proactive measures before Bun arrived to ensure that he was safe, and only a limited number of deputies encounter him on a daily basis.
"They were informed not to have any verbal contact with him, particularly about the [shooting] incident," Foster said. "He is not in any jeopardy."
Assistant District Attorney Jason Greene announced the evaluation order Friday morning at Bun's bond hearing.
The call for a psychological evaluation, ordered on Thursday by Clayton State Court Judge Aaron B. Mason to determine his competency to stand trial, precluded the bond request Bun’s attorney intended to make.
"It came as a surprise to me," defense attorney Lloyd Matthews said. "That could take as long as five months. I'm not going to request a bond for right now."
The order stemmed from misdemeanor charges that included loitering and possession of marijuana, for which Bun had appeared before Mason in May.
Bun has had more than a half-dozen run-ins with the law dating back to age 10, and the earliest of which – taking a pocket knife to an elementary school – was dismissed because he was deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial.
In a preliminary hearing Tuesday morning, authorities investigating the shooting suggested that Bun admitted his own culpability in the murder.
Asked why he was frightened when being questioned by GBI agents after the shooting, special agent Jonathan Spurlock told the court Bun said he was scared because he “had just shot a cop.”
Because the psychological evaluation was court-ordered, it will be conducted by psychiatric doctors at Georgia Regional Hospital in Atlanta.
Matthews said he had considered seeking his own mental consultation of Bun from a private doctor to, among other things, determine whether the teen was “insane at the time of the crime.”
He may likely go ahead with one following the state’s overview, admitting some question of the state doctors’ capabilities.
“They have found people competent to stand trial even when they weren’t,” Matthews said.
So will he seek an insanity plea?
“I’ll be looking at it,” Matthews said. “But it’ll depend on the findings of the experts. I can’t use the insanity plea for someone the experts say is not insane.”
About the Author
