A Clayton County teen accused of killing a sheriff’s deputy was denied bond Friday on the armed robbery charges that led to their fatal encounter.
Magistrate Judge Daphne Walker refused to allow 17-year-old Jonathan Bun to be bonded out for the January armed robbery that brought Deputy Richard “Rick” Daly into the teen’s sights.
Police say Bun shot Daly twice, killing the 25-year lawman.
“I’ll be denying all bonds in light of the circumstances,” Walker said.
The Clayton County Sheriff’s Office fugitive squad was looking for Bun on Wednesday to arrest him on a warrant stemming from armed robbery and assault charges in January.
He allegedly held the employee of a Forest Park store at gunpoint, taking $200.
Daly joined the fugitive deputies in pulling over the car Bun was in. When Daly approached the vehicle, Bun allegedly opened fire and then fled to a nearby wooded area.
A manhunt involving SWAT from dozens of area law enforcement agencies followed.
Bun was captured after more than five hours on the run. One or more police dogs assisted, biting the teen several times in the head and neck.
Bun stood Friday before the judge. The suspect was dressed in a red prison jumper and shackled in leg irons. Four patches in his hair revealed stitches from dog bites.
He locked his gaze on Walker as she read a half-dozen charges including malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and gun possession in the commission of a felony.
Bun said little more than the periodic “yes” to answer the judge’s questions.
“I’m going to continue to allow the public defender” to defend him, he finally told Walker in a clear, deep voice.
Behind Bun in the courtroom, filling seats to his right, were about 20 people who acknowledged that they were there to lend him support. None, however, would comment to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter in court.
A middle row of wooden bench seats was sparsely occupied, but the benches over Bun’s left shoulder were filled to overflowing with law enforcement officers from the Clayton County Sheriff’s deputies, Clayton police officers, GBI agents and plainclothes detectives.
One Clayton resident, Peter Bailey, said he came for his mother, who was fond of Daly.
“She would want somebody here to say something good about him,” Bailey said of the slain 55-year-old deputy.
Reached by phone later, Bailey’s mother Katherine Davis of Riverdale said she wasn’t well enough to be in court.
“I cried when I saw [Daly’s] picture on the news,” Davis said. “He took care of us senior citizens.”
Davis, 73, said twice Daly was the first person to respond to her home when she called 911 for medical attention. He helped make sure she was comfortable until an ambulance arrived.
“He was so nice,” she said. “I was hurt to hear what happened to him. He needed to have one of the citizens he helped there to represent him.”
Bun is scheduled to return to magistrate court Aug. 2, for a preliminary hearing on the murder charges, followed by a bond hearing Aug. 5 on the same charges.
Clayton Assistant District Attorney Jason Green asked the judge to move the original date of Bun’s preliminary hearing from July 28 because that date would have coincided with Daly’s funeral.
A public visitation for Daly is set for 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. July 27 at Tara Garden Chapel, 681 North Ave., Jonesboro.
An "in-state" service will begin at 11 a.m. followed by funeral services at 2 p.m. July 28 in First Baptist Church of Jonesboro, 147 Church St..
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