A Montgomery County judge is set to hear motions at 1 p.m. Wednesday on whether to reduce Dalton Eatherly’s $1 million bond in the case tied to a shooting outside the courthouse in Clarksville. Eatherly, who goes by Chud the Builder online, remains in the Montgomery County Jail as he asks to be released on lower terms.
The hearing matters because Eatherly is not just fighting the attempted murder charge from last month’s courthouse shooting. He is also pressing the court to return a vehicle taken in connection with his May arrest, while saying he has no criminal convictions, has a child living near Clarksville, has family in the city and owns a local construction business.
Eatherly has argued he is not a danger to the public, even as prosecutors have charged him with attempted murder for allegedly shooting a man outside the Montgomery County Courthouse last month. His bond in the case was first set at $1.25 million before being reduced to $1 million, and Wednesday’s hearing will determine whether that figure changes again. The request comes as a separate Davidson County court met Wednesday morning to consider revoking or increasing his $1,000 bond on Nashville theft charges tied to an incident at a steakhouse.
That Nashville case adds weight to the Montgomery County fight. Court documents say Eatherly was re-arrested twice while on bond in the theft case, a record the state is using to argue for tighter conditions. In Montgomery County, the defense is asking the judge to see him as someone with ties to the area, not as a continuing threat, but the courthouse shooting charge and the separate Nashville case leave the court with competing pictures of the same defendant.
For now, the next step is fixed: the Montgomery County hearing at 1 p.m. Wednesday. If the judge cuts the bond, Eatherly could have a path toward release under new conditions. If not, he stays jailed on the $1 million bond while the attempted murder case and the Nashville proceedings move ahead.
