BY BETH VELLIQUETTE

bvelliquette@heraldsun.com; 918-1042

HILLSBOROUGH -- A judge decided against lowering the bond Wednesday of one of the six men charged in the first-degree murder of Joshua Bailey after hearing the defendant drove Bailey to a garage where he was assaulted and kidnapped shortly before his death.

Ryan Ladar Davis Lee, 21, through a motion filed by his attorney, Glenn Gerding, asked that his bond be reduced from $1 million to $200,000.

Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour denied the motion.

The hearing in Orange County Criminal Superior Court revealed more details about what happened on the day Bailey was killed.

Bailey, 20, who grew up in the area, was acquainted with the defendants and sometimes hung out with them. They suspected, apparently falsely, that he had been talking to police about their criminal activities.

The six charged with first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping and conspiracy in the death of Bailey are: Brian Gregory Minton, 19, Jacob Alexander Maxwell, 19, Brandon Hamilton Greene, 27, Jack Johnson II, 20, and Matthew Alan Johnson, 22, and Lee.

Lee, according to Gerding, had been living in Burlington until about two or three weeks before Bailey's death but had moved to Chapel Hill and was staying with his aunt. Lee and Greene are cousins, but Lee had not been involved with the group before moving to Chapel Hill. He first met the other defendants when they came over to see Greene, Gerding said.

On July 29, 2008, members of the group and others had been coming and going from Greene's home in Chapel Hill, and at one point, they all left, leaving Bailey at the home with Lee, according to Gerding.

Someone called Lee and told him to bring Bailey to Minton's home, Gerding said. When they arrived, a group of about nine or 10 people was waiting in Minton's garage, Gerding said.

Some of them then assaulted and tied up Bailey, Gerding said, but Lee was not one of them.

Two members of the group had guns, and they put Bailey in an SUV, and they told Lee to follow in his car. Lee followed, but he didn't know they planned to kill Bailey, Gerding said.

Orange-Chatham District Attorney Jim Woodall, in arguing against the bond reduction, said the group that took Bailey had shovels and guns, so it should have been obvious they planned to kill and bury Bailey, but Lee went along anyway, Woodall said.

Lee then followed the SUV to Twisted Oak Court, northwest of Carrboro, and the group walked Bailey into the woods and shot him. Lee followed the group into the woods and witnessed the shooting, Gerding said.

Matthew Johnson allegedly fired the shot that killed Bailey, although there are questions as to whether he was forced to shoot Bailey or whether he willingly shot Bailey. Some of the defendants in Bailey's murder are also charged with crimes that occurred in Chatham County before Bailey was killed in which they allegedly beat and threatened to kill Matthew Johnson, because they suspected he was the snitch.

After the shooting on Twisted Oak Court, Lee gave several of the other defendants a ride back into town, Gerding said.

Gerding argued that Lee has been cooperating with prosecutors. He also has strong ties to the community in Alamance County, where his family lives, Gerding said.

Woodall discounted Lee's strong family ties, saying that's what got him into trouble in the first place.

In addition to the six defendants, Minton's parents, Gregory Lee Minton, 43, and Mishele Slade Minton, 39, and Chris Manley, 25, have been charged with being accessories after the fact for allegedly helping move the body from the woods to a spot near Jordan Lake.