Kollie was arrested last week on suspicion of firearms violations. Federal investigators have said that there was no evidence that Kollie, 24, took any part in planning Betts’ killing spree on East Fifth Street.
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Magistrate Michel Newman, echoing statements he made Wednesday, acknowledged continuing “very significant concerns that he (Kollie) is a possible danger to himself and others.” Newman cited Kollie’s history of drug use and mental health issues raised in a pre-trial assessment of Kollie.
Defense counsel had urged Newman to consider a possible area home as a place to detain Kollie under electronic monitoring and other conditions. While defense attorneys never said where that home is, they did say it is much closer to Dayton than an earlier location that had been checked and recommended by pre-trial services staff members. That earlier location was closer to West Virginia than Dayton, court officials indicated Wednesday.
But Vipal Patel, first assistant U.S. attorney, argued that the defense team’s suggested home detention location, even if closer, remained problematic, saying Kollie would be left with a “third party” not related to him.
Calling defense’s suggestion a “fundamentally bad idea,” Patel told Newman: “We should not contract out our federal detention.”
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Brandishing in the hearing what he called a “machine gun-looking pistol” and a package of drugs, Patel asked the magistrate to consider possible dangers to the home and its residents.
“Where does that lead if something goes wrong, including bringing narcotics into the house?” Patel said.
Defense attorney Nicholas Gounaris countered that the people he had in mind were “lifelong family friends who have known Kollie since childhood.”
He said the proposed arrangement — having a prisoner kept on home detention with an unrelated third party — wasn’t unprecedented.
“It’s my understanding that this is something done on a regular basis,” Gounaris said. “It’s not an unusual thing.”
After the hearing but while still in court, Gounaris and colleague attorney Antony Abboud placed their hands on Kollie’s back and spoke to him quietly for a few minutes.
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Kollie faces federal charges of possession of a firearm by an unlawful user/addict of a controlled substance and making a false statement regarding firearms.
The charges against Kollie do not involve the weapon Betts used. Patel, however, noted that a federal complaint alleges that Kollie did purchase the body armor, the double-barrel drum-style magazine and the upper receiver to the AR-style pistol that Betts used Aug. 4.
“This case involves three firearms that this defendant purchased that had no connection with the Aug. 4 shooting,” Patel said after Thursday’s hearing. “
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The federal complaint said Kollie, about 10 weeks ago, helped Betts assemble the weapon used in the Oregon district shooting.
Dayton police said Betts fired 40 rounds in about 32 seconds, and six officers running toward Betts fired more than 60 rounds, killing Betts before he could enter the door at Ned Peppers bar. Nine people, plus Betts, died in the shooting, and 17 others suffered gunshot wounds.
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