Bail was lowered by nearly 80 percent for a Vicksburg man accused of pushing an elderly man down a flight of stairs to his death.
Circuit Judge Isadore Patrick on Monday lowered bail for Caleb Erves, 55, who lives on Walnut Street, from $450,000 to $100,000.
Defense attorney McLain Walker argued that the original bail of nearly half a million dollars was unreasonable for Erves, who worked in construction before his arrest.
“Given his financial situation, $450,000 is out of his reach by any means,” Walker said during the hearing.
Erves was indicted earlier this month by a Warren County grand jury for depraved heart murder in the death of 70-year-old Emanuel Erves.
Caleb Erves was in a dispute with Emanuel Erves shortly after midnight Feb. 23 when he pushed the 70-year-old down the stairs of a boarding house on Walnut Street, Vicksburg police Lt. Sandra Williams has said. Williams previously said the two are not related.
The two men lived in different rooms on the same floor of the boarding house, Assistant District Attorney Lane Campbell said.
“That push was done out of anger,” he said.
Caleb Erves is scheduled to go to trial Dec. 1, but Walker will not represent him.
Immediately after the bail hearing, Walker asked to be removed from the case, saying that Caleb Erves had become combative with him.
“Mr. Erves refused to help me with his defense,” Walker said.
In a separate bail hearing, Patrick upheld a bail of a quarter million dollars for a man accused of killing a partygoer at the American Legion hall on Monroe Street.
Patrick ruled that bail would remain at $250,000 for David Matthew Reed, 43, who is accused of first-degree murder in the shooting death of 27-year-old Michael “Tiger” Robinson during a party Dec. 7 at American Legion Post 3 hall on Monroe Street.
Defense attorney Ramel Cotton contended that Reed did not fire the shot that killed Robinson and insisted the fatal shot came from Reed’s co-defendant Morris Anthony Davis.
Patrick said he would consider the bail reduction if Cotton could provide evidence that Reed was not the triggerman in Robinson’s death.