GREENSBORO, Ala. (AP) - A judge in Alabama has approved bond for two men charged with murder after a business owner they confronted during a burglary died of a heart attack.
Circuit Judge Marvin Wiggins set bail at $150,000 each for Darnell Coates, 34, and Lonze Byrd, 33, The Tuscaloosa News reported Friday.
The two have been jailed since September, when they were arrested in the death of recycling company owner William Michael Thomas, 60, of Greensboro.
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Thomas collapsed after confronting burglars at his business and firing a warning shot, prosecutors and court documents said, and the men left without calling authorities. Prosecutors said that and the stress of the crime caused his death of a heart attack.
Alabama law allows the death penalty for slayings that happen during another crime, such as a robbery or burglary, and authorities initially charged both men with capital murder. Officials first said Thomas was beaten, but an autopsy showed he died of a heart attack.
The judge reduced the capital charge to murder, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment instead of death, and prosecutors are pushing ahead with the reduced charge.
“Mr. Thomas died when he came upon these two men burglarizing his property, and he died as a result of injuries that occurred during that incident. So the state of Alabama has charged Mr. Coats and Mr. Byrd with his death, “Assistant District Attorney Kate Furek told the media outside a hearing this week.
Defense lawyer Jim Standridge said the men shouldn’t be prosecuted for murder.
“The conduct that Mr. Coats, Mr. Byrd have admitted to in their statements is simply entering into a junkyard for the purposes of stealing something,” Standridge said. “That in itself is not inherently dangerous.”
Thomas caught Coates and Byrd stealing copper, catalytic converters and other items from his business, C&D Recycling.
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