Accused Killer Asks Judge To Lower Bail to $100K; Judge Raises It to $5 Million Instead

The man accused of stabbing to death a beloved Memphis chef last month appeared in court Tuesday asking a judge to reduce his $1 million bond to $100,000.

Instead, the judge raised the bond to $5 million for 57-year-old Jonathan Brush, WHBQ reported.

Brush told investigators that Jody Moyt, the executive chef at Memphis’s legendary Lafayette Music Room, ran him off the road on April 24 and then attacked him, forcing him to defend himself with the knife he had, as CrimeOnline previously reported.

Brush himself called 911, and officers found Moyt in the driver’s seat of his vehicle with 16 stab wounds to his legs and chest.

Attorneys for Brush, who previously spent time in prison in Florida for murder, argued self-defense and said their client had been a model citizen since getting out of prison. The judge, however, didn’t agree and ordered bail increased five-fold.

Moyt’s family told WHBQ they were relieved.

“It makes us feel better, ” his father, William Moyt, said.

“We’ve lost our son, and we don’t want somebody else to lose theirs,” he said.

Brush has been charged with second degree murder in Moyt’s death.

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