Fuller’s attorney Lawrence Hawkins III entered a not guilty plea and made an argument for a reduction in Fuller’s $1 million bond that was set in Middletown Municipal Court.
Hawkins said Fuller has strong family ties to Butler County. He was born in Hamilton, spent some time in Cincinnati, but has lived in Middletown since he was 15 and attended Middletown High School. Fuller had also been employed at McDonald’s, according to his attorney.
“He doesn’t appear to be a flight risk,” Hawkins said.
Assistant Butler County Prosecutor Kraig Chadrick said the murder charge itself that carries 18 years to life is enough to make the defendant a flight risk.
Judge Dan Haughey set Fuller’s bond at $850,000 cash, surety or property. If he posts bond, he is ordered to be on a GPS monitor.
Fuller is scheduled to be back in court Sept. 20.
Fuller allegedly shot and killed his uncle, Terry Fuller, 42, of Middletown, in the 2100 block of Grand Avenue in Middletown. It was the city’s first homicide of the year, said police Chief David Birk.
At Fuller’s court appearance in Middletown Municipal Court last week, his mother and Terry Fuller’s sister, Tina Fuller, said her son “snapped,” he was scared for his life and he was protecting his family. She said her son was “not in the right state of mind” and the fatal shooting never should have happened.
Middletown police were called at 10:30 p.m. on a report of several shots fired near Grand Avenue and Wilson Street. Birk said the dispute between the two men started earlier in the night, then “rolled over” until the deadly shooting.
Terry Fuller died at the scene. His body was on the sidewalk curb when officers arrived. While no gun was recovered, police officers found more than 20 casings in the area, Birk said.
Denzel Fuller was tracked down by police and taken into custody in an apartment in the 600 block of Lafayette Avenue.
He previously was arrested in September 2017 for the robbery and assault of a pizza delivery driver on Hill Avenue in Middletown, according to court records. He pleaded guilty to robbery, a third-degree felony, in Butler County Common Pleas Court and was sentenced to two years in prison.
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