CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Motions to post and revoke bond were argued Friday for Dalton Levi Eatherly, who is charged in a May 13 shooting outside the Montgomery County Courts Center.
Eatherly, 28, is charged with attempted murder, employing a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony, aggravated assault, and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon.
Dispute over bond, donations and source-of-fund rules
During the hearing, the defense asked the court to reduce bond and approve a bail source so Eatherly could post it. Prosecutors, however, moved to revoke bond in his earlier harassment case, which was bound over to the grand jury on April 8, according to court records.
Defense attorney Jake Fendley had also filed motions Thursday afternoon for the return of Eatherly’s truck and for LA Bail Bondings to post “bond in excess.” Under local bonding rules, no single company may write a bond over $50,000, and any bond above that amount must be approved by the court. Two companies may combine to write a bond up to $100,000, but anything higher requires a petition.
Judge William Goodman III said those motions could not be heard Friday because they were filed less than 24 hours before the scheduled hearing instead of the required 10 days.
Assistant District Attorney Chris West argued that Tennessee’s source-of-funds statute requires donations to be verified. He said most of the money raised for Eatherly came from anonymous or unidentifiable donors, making verification “virtually impossible.”
“The vast majority of that money came after this offense occurred,” West added. He also asked the court to revoke Eatherly’s bond in the harassment case since he was out on bond when the shooting occurred.
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Fendley asked Goodman to overturn Judge H. Reid Poland III’s earlier order prohibiting Eatherly from using crowdsourced donations raised after May 13 to post bond. He said Eatherly has raised almost $300,000 and argued the money was not “tainted by criminal activity.”
“There is no law that prohibits crowdsource money being used for bail,” Fendley said.
Goodman set a hearing to rule on all of the motions for June 3 at the Montgomery County Courts Center. Fendley noted that Eatherly will be coming from a court appearance in Nashville that day.
Fight and gunfire outside courthouse
Eatherly, known online as “Chud the Builder,” is charged in the shooting of Joshua Fox outside the courthouse. The confrontation began as a verbal dispute in Millennium Plaza, where investigators said Eatherly “turned his body in a bladed stance” and reached for a firearm in his jacket pocket before a physical fight began, according to previous reports. During the struggle, Eatherly fired multiple shots. Fox was hit in the torso and arm, and Eatherly also shot himself in the arm. Seven shell casings were recovered, all from the same gun.
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Surveillance footage with no audio captured the encounter, and investigators testified that the video shows Eatherly drawing a firearm – not Mace, as he later claimed. Fox was flown to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville for emergency surgery and survived.
What led to $1 million bond and release conditions
At his May 15 arraignment, Poland advised Eatherly of the charges and potential sentencing ranges, including 15 to 60 years on the attempted murder if convicted. Poland set the initial bond at $1.25 million, noting the number of bystanders in the plaza and the seriousness of the incident, according to previous reports.
At a May 21 bond hearing, investigators detailed additional findings, including a bulletproof vest and an airline ticket to Istanbul dated May 22 found in Eatherly’s truck. Fendley noted that there was also a return ticket and said Eatherly was not a flight risk. Officers also recovered a rifle, shotgun, ammunition, a suspected bag of marijuana and electronic devices from Eatherly’s home.
Poland reset bond at $1 million, noting state law requires it to be at least double the customary amount since Eatherly was already out on bond in two other cases: one in Montgomery County for harassment and one in Davidson County for disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and theft.
The case has been bound over to the grand jury.
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