Teen charged in killing of Preston Lord gets bond reduced to $250K. Here's why

A Maricopa County Superior Court judge on Tuesday reduced the million-dollar bond for a teen charged in connection with the fatal group attack on Preston Lord after his lawyer argued he did not take part in the assault, which prosecutors disputed.

"He didn't participate in the beating of Mr. Lord," said Joseph Tobler, the lawyer for Taylor Sherman, 19. "There's no physical evidence of his participation in that beating because he was not involved in that beating."

Tobler argued the high bond was excessive since the many witnesses at the Oct. 28 Halloween party in Queen Creek did not identify Sherman as one of Lord's attackers, and he was cooperative with investigators. He also said Sherman had no criminal history, was a low risk to the community and was not linked to "Gilbert Goons" attack cases.

A December investigation by The Arizona Republic detailed how Lord's death was tied to the Goons, a gang of teenagers who recorded their blitz-style attacks and shared many of them online.

Prosecutors argued against the bond reduction for Sherman, saying a key piece of evidence against him was his own admission that he was involved in the beating. Tobler said prosecutors were referring to a misreading of text messages where people were talking about two different assaults at the same time. But his client cleared up the misinterpretation, he said.

"We don't count that as evidence of guilt. We don't count that as an admission. We count that as poor texting hygiene," Tobler said.

But there was additional evidence presented to a grand jury, prosecutors said, which was enough for them to decide Sherman and six others were involved in the fatal group attack on Lord and should be charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping.

In addition, in court records opposing Sherman's release from custody, prosecutors said there was evidence Sherman participated in the beating based on Ring surveillance footage and witness interviews.

Sherman, according to police, video recorded as rescuers dragged Lord's body out of the street. "Slumped the f--- out. Haha," he said, according to the Queen Creek police investigation.

In court, Judge Bruce Cohen said bond was not designed to be a predetermination of guilt and gave Sherman a reduced secured appearance bond of $250,000. If he posts bail, he will have electronic monitoring and be on house arrest.

"I don't want you in the community engaged with others. I want you home," Cohen said.

Cohen ordered Sherman not to use or communicate through social media and to have no communication with people associated with the case. That includes people who are defendants in other assault cases, he said.

"This is not your parents grounding you," Cohen said. "This is the difference between you staying in custody and out."

As of Tuesday afternoon, Sherman was still in custody. Only one of the seven defendants in the case, Talyn Vigil, 18, is out on bail.

Tobler said he was pleased with the bond reduction.

"His family, I think, is overjoyed that they can try to post a bond and I think they're going to try to do that," Tobler told The Republic. "The judge I think ... today recognized the problems with the case against Mr. Sherman and accordingly lowered the bond."

Elena Santa Cruz is a justice reporter for The Republic. Reach her at [email protected]. Follow her on X @ecsantacruz3.

Robert Anglen is an investigative reporter for The Republic. Reach him at [email protected]. Follow him on X @robertanglen.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Preston Lord defendant gets bond reduced to $250K