A teen charged in connection with the fatal group attack on Preston Lord was released from custody a day after a judge reduced his million-dollar bond.
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office confirmed Wednesday that Taylor Sherman, 19, posted bail. He was under electronic monitoring, according to the Sheriff's Office.
A Maricopa County Superior Court judge had reduced Sherman's bond to $250,000 on Tuesday after his lawyer argued the initial bond was excessive since his client did not participate in the Oct. 28 assault on Lord, 16, at a Halloween party in Queen Creek. Judge Bruce Cohen said if Sherman posted bail, he would be on house arrest.
Sherman is one of seven people charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping in connection with Lord's death and has been in custody since March 6.
"He didn't participate in the beating of Mr. Lord," said Sherman's lawyer Joseph Tobler at Tuesday's hearing. "There's no physical evidence of his participation in that beating because he was not involved in that beating."
Tobler also argued Sherman had no criminal history, was a low risk to the community and was not linked to the "Gilbert Goons."
A December investigation by The Arizona Republic detailed how Lord's death was tied to the Goons, a gang of teenagers who recorded their blitz-style attacks and shared many of them online.
Prosecutors disputed Tobler's claims and opposed the bond reduction, saying Sherman had admitted to being involved in the attack. But Tobler said what they were referring to — text messages where people were talking about two different assaults at the same time — was a misinterpretation that Sherman cleared up.
Additional evidence was presented to a grand jury, prosecutors said, which was enough for them to charge Sherman and the other six people with murder and kidnapping. They did not specify in court what that evidence was.
In addition, in court records opposing Sherman's release from custody, prosecutors said there was evidence Sherman participated in the beating based on Ring surveillance footage and witness interviews.
Sherman, according to police, video recorded as rescuers dragged Lord's body out of the street. "Slumped the f--- out. Haha," he said, according to the Queen Creek police investigation .
When Cohen ordered the bond reduction on Tuesday, he also ordered Sherman not to use or communicate through social media and not to communicate with people associated with the case. That included people who were defendants in other assault cases.
After Tuesday's hearing, Tobler told The Republic he and Sherman's family were pleased with the bond reduction.
"The judge I think ... today recognized the problems with the case against Mr. Sherman and accordingly lowered the bond," he said.
In a hearing on Wednesday, Cohen pointed out he did not rule on any merits of the case.
"This court has not formed and has no intention of forming any opinions or conclusions as to the merits of this or any other case," he said in a minute entry.
Cohen also said the court would not do so, "unless a substantive issue requiring such a decision is properly before the court, actual evidence has been presented, and due process rights of all parties have been honored."
One other defendant in the Lord case, Talyn Vigil, 18, is out on bail . Unlike Sherman, his bond was not reduced.
All other defendants remained in custody.
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Elena Santa Cruz is a justice reporter for The Republic. Reach her at elena.santacruz@gannett.com . Follow her on X @ecsantacruz3 .
Robert Anglen is an investigative reporter for The Republic. Reach him at robert.anglen@arizonarepublic.com . Follow him on X @robertanglen .
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 2nd teen charged in Preston Lord killing released from jail after posting bail
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