Man denies killing girlfriend over a watch, gets bond

Through attorney, businessman says ‘there’s no murder.’

A DeKalb County judge has granted $125,000 bond to an Atlanta businessman accused of beating his girlfriend to death during an argument over a watch.

Judge Winston Bethel on Monday ordered Jason Leroy Brown, 34, to wear an ankle monitor and surrender his passport while awaiting trial in the death of Taylor Bins, 24, according to the Superior Court clerk’s office. Brown, who owns real estate and catering businesses, hadn’t posted bond and remained jailed Friday afternoon.

Defense attorney Keith Adams said there is more to the story than county police have released in Bins’ July 24 death at a home off Rockbridge Road outside Stone Mountain. Adams told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the information he has is there was a “mutual” physical fight between the couple, and that Bins broke windows out of Brown’s vehicle.

Adams said police accusations that Brown dragged Bins, the mother of a toddler-age daughter, down stairs after showing up to confront her about a watch aren’t true. Asked for an explanation of the fight, the attorney said he’d prefer to wait.

“Overall the case is very much a mystery,” he said. “Our position is that there’s no murder here. He should not have been charged.”

Police said Bins had a seizure during the fight and died, which Adams said makes him question whether the seizure could be blamed on Brown. The autopsy hasn’t been released, the attorney added.

Bins was from Tennessee, loved dance and people, her obituary said. She was in training to work in real estate. Efforts to reach members of her family weren’t immediately successful Friday.

Brown, who is separated from his wife and has three children, turned himself in after learning he was charged in Bins’ death after leaving her at the scene.

Court records show he was convicted of a marijuana distribution charge in 2004, and of being a felon in possession of a firearm in 2008.