Fayette court sets $1 million bond for suspect 5 years after UK student’s death
A Fayette County judge set Friday a $1 million cash bond for Efrain Diaz Jr., who has been in jail since 2015 when he was arrested and charged with murder in the shooting death of a University of Kentucky student.
Circuit Judge Ernesto Scorsone agreed to the bond in a hearing after defense attorneys asked the judge to reconsider. Diaz, 25, has been in jail without bond for almost five years while awaiting a trial in the shooting death of Jonathan Krueger. The trial is currently scheduled for August.
It’s not clear if Diaz will be able to pay the bond required for release.
Diaz and Justin D. Smith, who is also charged with murder in the same case, have been awaiting trial while the Kentucky Supreme Court considers whether the two can face the death penalty if convicted. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in September 2019 and has yet to decide the issue.
The prosecution appealed an earlier Scorsone ruling — in a separate case — that imposing the death sentence on those younger than 21 would be unconstitutional.
Diaz was 20 and Smith was 18 at the time of Krueger’s death.
Michael Bufkin, the attorney for Diaz, told reporters on Friday that the wait for trial was “difficult” for Diaz.
“But we’ll wait and see what happens,” Bufkin said.
Krueger, 22, and a friend, Aaron Gillette, were walking home on East Maxwell Street in April 2015 when two men got out of a van and confronted them to rob them, according to the court file.
Gillette resisted and tried to defend himself and someone fired shots, according to the state’s appeal in the case before the Supreme Court. Gillette was able to get away, but Krueger died as a result of gunshot wounds.
There was a third person charged in the case, Roman Gonzalez Jr., but prosecutors could not seek a death sentence against him because he was 17 at the time. Both Diaz and Smith told police they believed Gonzalez shot Krueger. Gonzalez and Smith were earlier given steep $1 million bonds., but they remain in jail.
Bufkin asked for an additional hearing to put on more evidence related to the bond, but was denied. Bufkin said the additional evidence shows that Diaz was less culpable because he never got out of the van and “neither robbed them nor did he shoot anybody.”
“I believe that gives him a much lower level of culpability,” Bufkin said.
This story was originally published March 6, 2020 at 12:51 PM.