Politics & Government

Evidence Accelerated Brunn Case

One of Ryan Brunn's court-appointed attorneys told Canton-Sixes Patch how Tuesday's plea deal was reached.

Within the last two weeks, the case against now convicted murderer Ryan Brunn accelerated.

Reports from the GBI Crime Lab and the Medical Examiner's Office began to arrive quicker than , one of Brunn's court-appointed attorneys, anticipated.

"It's not uncommon if you have a DUI case and you're waiting on blood results that that takes six months, eight months or something of that nature," Burns said today. "It's obvious to me that this case got put on a priority list over there."

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The reports told a story different from the one that  in connection with the brutal murder of first-grader Jorelys Rivera

A pair of gloves and a bloody shoe linked him to the crime. So did his fingerprints, found inside the vacant apartment unit where he bound, gagged and beat 7-year-old Jorelys. An analysis confirmed Brunn's handwriting on a note he taped on the compacting Dumpster where . "She in trash can," the note read.

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On top of all of that, the state had witnesses who put Brunn near the crime scene around the time Jorelys was reported missing on Dec. 2.

"It was clear that they had a lot of evidence that pointed at Mr. Brunn," Burns said. "It pointed at Brunn's guilt."

The negotiations that ultimately resulted in began shortly after .

Originally facing charges of murder and making a false statement, 11 new charges were added that day, including two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of aggravated battery, two counts of cruelty to children in the first degree, one count of aggravated child molestation, one count of enticing a child for indecent purposes, one count of false imprisonment, one count of abandonment of a dead body and one count of sexual exploitation of children.

Tuesday, the charge of aggravated child molestation was reduced to child molestation.  but instead told her to touch herself after luring her to a vacant apartment with a photo of her roller skate.

Burns said that he couldn't recall which side initiated discussions, but that both the prosecution and the defense wanted to talk.

"It was apparent that (Cherokee County District Attorney Garry Moss) wanted to talk with us and share the information that he had received," Burns said. "And we certainly wanted to talk to him." 

Discussions continued through the long holiday weekend.

"It was a work in progress up until the day before" the hearing, Burns said.

Burns wouldn't talk about Brunn, the discussions they had or his observations of his client.  

"He made the decision to take responsibility for his actions," Burns said. "And he did it on Tues., Jan. 17."

It was a decision that Brunn's family members, who weren't at Tuesday's proceeding, supported, said Burns, who has been in contact with relatives from the start of the case.

"I think that his family loves him and they support him and they realized that this was a decision that only he could make."

While Burns said he was surprised the case concluded as fast as it did, he said he was glad it would spare Jorelys' family from a long trial.

"There was a big part of me yesterday at the hearing that hoped that although this will never be over for them in terms of their grieving, that at least what happened yesterday might start the closure process," he said. "There are other cases where there are parents out there where children have been killed and those parents don’t know what happened. I was hopeful that this mother would take some solace in the fact that they had the right person, that he took responsibility for it and justice was served on him."


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