A Wythe County man accused of bringing guns onto school grounds in February will remain locked up for now even though a judge granted him bond last week.
On Wednesday, 27-year-old Justin Ray Reed was brought to Wythe County Circuit Court from jail after the commonwealth appealed a lower court’s decision to give Reed a $20,000 bond on five charges, four of them felonies.
After meeting with their client on Wednesday before his hearing, Reed’s attorneys asked a judge to postpone the case.
Appearing in an orange and white jail uniform and with his wrists and ankles shackled, Reed said, “Thank you, your honor,” at the end of Wednesday’s short hearing.
Arrested on Feb. 17, he’s been held in the New River Valley Regional Jail ever since.
On March 3, a General District Court judge granted his bond with several conditions.
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In addition to submitting to drug and alcohol testing, Reed was ordered to avoid all contact with Fort Chiswell High School and to refrain from possessing firearms. A judge said he had to live with his father and could only leave the house with his father for court hearings, attorney meetings, church and a trip to the DMV to renew his license.
The commonwealth, though, appealed the judge’s decision and Reed has to stay locked up while the appeal is pending.
In a civil hearing last week, the commonwealth got a Circuit Court judge to grant a six-month order preventing Reed from having guns.
Police have accused of Reed, who has no criminal record, of bringing two loaded guns onto the FCHS campus on Feb. 17.
Deputies later confronted Reed near the school and disarmed him.
Police said Reed told them he “was just traveling” when they asked him why he was carrying firearms on school grounds.
He was charged with possessing a gun on school property (two counts), brandishing a firearm on school property (two counts) and disorderly conduct.
Reed, who has hired his own attorneys, has a May 4 preliminary hearing scheduled in Wythe County General District Court. If convicted of all five charges, he faces a maximum punishment of 21 years in prison.
