McDaniel murder bond set at $850,000

Although a judge on Wednesday set an $850,000 bond for the man accused in the June slaying of Lauren Giddings, that doesn’t mean murder suspect Stephen Mark McDaniel is about to get out of jail.

For McDaniel to be eligible for release, bond also must be set in two other cases against him. He is charged with 30 counts of sexual exploitation of children and two counts of burglary.

Bibb County Chief Superior Court Judge S. Phillip Brown signed the bond order Wednesday.

The bond comes more than a week after Brown expressed concerns that defense attorneys didn’t present evidence about whether McDaniel would be a harm to himself if he is let out of jail. McDaniel been locked up in the Bibb jail’s infirmary since his July 1 arrest.

Prosecutors requested bond be set at $2.5 million with requirements that McDaniel be confined to his home with an ankle monitor and not be allowed to have unsupervised access to children.

McDaniel’s attorneys argued that a bond higher than $100,000 would be akin to denying bond for McDaniel because his family wouldn’t be able to afford it.

McDaniel is accused in the death and dismemberment of Giddings, his 27-year-old neighbor and Mercer University law school classmate. Police found Giddings’ torso in a trash bin outside her Georgia Avenue apartment building June 30.

Check back at Macon.com and read Thursday’s Telegraph for more on this story.

This story was originally published April 11, 2012 at 2:03 PM with the headline "McDaniel murder bond set at $850,000."