Judge denies bond for felon charged with multiple crimes

An Allegheny County judge who dismissed gun charges last week against a defendant because of prosecutorial misconduct refused on Monday to give that defendant bond.

James Taric Byrd has been in the Allegheny County Jail for about 20 months on three criminal cases. Two of them are now on appeal with the state Superior Court after rulings made by Common Pleas Judge Donna Jo McDaniel.

Last week, she threw out gun charges against Byrd, after finding that the assistant district attorney on the case improperly contacted one of Byrd’s character witnesses, causing the woman to feel intimidated.

The district attorney’s office has filed a notice of appeal. Also on appeal is a decision by Judge McDaniel in which she threw out a recording made at the jail between Byrd and a woman when she visited him there. In that recording, prosecutors said Byrd described in graphic detail sexually assaulting the woman previously. They charged him with rape.

After last week’s dismissal, Byrd requested a bond hearing. On Monday, Deputy District Attorney Jennifer DiGiovanni told the judge Byrd was dangerous and had threatened to kill the alleged victim in the rape case in a recorded phone call from jail.

She played a recording of the call in which Byrd was arguing with the woman and said, “I will come home and murder you. I’ll murder you, yo. Don’t make me murder you,” he said. “You can tell the cops. You can tell whoever you want.

“I will kill you and me. I will be your worst nightmare. You know how I play for keeps.”

Ms. DiGiovanni also told the court that there was no combination of methods that could ensure the safety of the victims in Byrd’s cases, or the community at large.

Byrd has 15 prior arrests and three felony convictions and is wanted for a parole violation in Ohio, according to pretrial services’ records. The agency recommended that Byrd not be released.

His defense attorney, Brandon Herring, argued that his client is now being held on drug charges, and that with the other cases on appeal with the Superior Court, that there’s no end in sight.

He requested house arrest, and Byrd said he would live with his mother, who has cancer.

But Judge McDaniel said that based on the nature of the charges she could not release him.

“These cases aren’t minimal,” she said. “They’re all very serious cases.”