Chud the Builder bond revoked after Clarksville shooting

A Nashville judge revoked bond for “Chud the Builder,” Dalton Eatherly, on June 17 after the Clarksville shooting case raised the question of whether he would keep following a Nashville bond condition that he not face new charges. The judge said her decision w

When “Chud the Builder” walked into a Clarksville courtroom situation that later turned into a bond fight, the online persona didn’t stay online. It followed him onto a courtroom TV screen, played for a judge and the officers sitting nearby for other matters.

On June 17. Davidson County Judge Melissa Blackburn revoked bond for Dalton Eatherly — the given name behind the livestream identity — in three Nashville cases charged days before the shooting outside the Montgomery County Courthouse. Blackburn based her decision on “what I’ve seen on social media and Mr. Eatherly’s behavior.”.

The revocation hearing was initially set as a preliminary hearing. Assistant District Attorney Jeff Walker instead motioned to revoke Eatherly’s bond. Eatherly was already on bond when he was arrested in Clarksville. A condition of that Nashville bond required that he not be charged with any more crimes.

Eatherly’s attorney, Jacob Fendley, filed a motion to dismiss the charges, but Blackburn only heard the motion to revoke his bond.

Walker then called Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Detective Michael Weber to testify about the charges Eatherly faces in Clarksville and the basis for the bond revocation motion. Several Metro Nashville police officers present in the courtroom for other cases shifted in their seats so they could better see the screen.

Walker played two videos recorded from Eatherly’s social media accounts. In one of the videos. Eatherly spoke about what he believed would happen to him next — including the kind of outcome he expected after imagining a headline. He said, “It’s only proper escalation. It’s inevitable,” and then added, “Just imagine the headline. ‘Chud the Builder kills a Black man.’ It’s almost like it’s going to happen.”.

A few days later, he was charged in Montgomery County with attempted murder after a Black man was shot five times.

In the courtroom. Fendley tried to question Weber about whether he reviewed footage from the night Eatherly was arrested in Nashville. including a live stream that was shown in the courtroom on June 17. Walker objected, asking the judge to reserve questioning on the Nashville cases for the preliminary hearing. Walker also explained that the basis for revocation was Eatherly’s Clarksville arrest.

Fendley pushed back during the exchange. saying he thought the court should focus on whether Eatherly committed a new crime while on bond. He told Blackburn. “I would think the court would take special interest in the facts of the case that the state’s wanting to hold Mr. Eatherly without bail on, especially if he didn’t commit a crime.”.

Blackburn responded by keeping the scope narrow: “Right now we’re talking about the motion to revoke his bail.”

Blackburn later set the preliminary hearing for June 25.

The Nashville case traces back to May 9. when Nashville police said Eatherly walked out on a nearly $400 restaurant tab at Bob’s Steak and Chop at the Omni Hotel on Rep. John Lewis Way South. In his arrest affidavit, the restaurant and security manager told police they had asked Eatherly not to livestream.

Eatherly is known for live streaming racially charged content for social media views, and the affidavit states he had been filming content on Broadway in the days before his Nashville arrest. According to the affidavit, Eatherly ordered two entrees, cocktails, and appetizers totaling $371.

“When the restaurant realized he had been live streaming they asked him to stop his actions,” the affidavit said. It added that he “became disruptive and started making racial statements, yelling, screaming and otherwise creating a scene at the location.”

The affidavit also says Eatherly told staff, “I’m not paying if you are kicking me out,” before leaving the restaurant.

Police later found him walking on Broadway near 2nd Avenue South. When officers tried to take him into custody, the affidavit says he “pulled his arm away,” but was otherwise arrested without incident. He was charged with theft of services, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Those Nashville charges arrived days before the gunfire outside the Montgomery County courthouse injured a man — and before Eatherly was being held in the Montgomery County Jail with bond in that case set at $1 million.

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