Accused murderer given bond

Published 6:15 am Thursday, September 9, 2010

A Dalton man charged with murder and aggravated battery in the stabbing death of a Beaverdale man was given a $50,000 bond on Wednesday in Whitfield County Superior Court.

Bryan Dennington, 34, of 2838 Underwood Road, has been jailed since April 19 when William Wesley Vaughn Jr., 28, of Mount Pleasant Road, was pronounced dead in a convenience store parking lot at the corner of Highway 52 and Cedar Ridge Road in eastern Whitfield. An argument over a cell phone led to the stabbing, Vaughn’s parents said.

Judge William Boyett set the bond amount after being told by Assistant District Attorney Bert Poston that an agreement had been reached with the public defender’s office. When Boyett asked Circuit Public Defender Mike McCarthy if he agreed with the terms, which mandate that there is to be no contact by Dennington with Vaughn’s family, he said he did.

“There’s a statute that says if someone has been in jail over 90 days and the case hasn’t been indicted by the grand jury, then they’re entitled to bond,” said District Attorney Kermit McManus. “So he was entitled to a bond, and knew Judge Boyett was going to have to give him one, so we talked it over — Mr. McCarthy and I did — and agreed on $50,000.”

Vaughn was a 2000 graduate of Northwest Whitfield High School and left behind a 5-year-old daughter.

Dennington remained in the Whitfield County Jail late Wednesday afternoon, a jail spokeswoman said.