Cox preliminary hearing postponed; bond reduced

The man accused of beating Josh Olzak to death earlier this month, Tanner Cox, appeared in court Friday.

The preliminary hearing originally scheduled for Friday was postponed to June 9.

Another topic for discussion in court was lowering Cox’s bond, which was originally set for $100,000.

The judge decided to lower the bond to $30,000 with restrictions including pretrial supervision with various drug tests and having no contact with witnesses, the victims, or the victim’s families.

Some of the considerations to lower the bond included Cox turning himself and the history of Cox being aggressive under the influence of alcohol.

Prosecuting Attorney Daniel Clark said, “My assumption is that the gravity of what’s happened has sunk in at this point. I don’t think it’s an ongoing problem so from that perspective I don’t think we would have any more incidents like this from him.”

Police said Cox, Olzak and others got into an argument in the early morning hours of May 9. Cox allegedly punched Olzak one time, knocking him down and causing his head to hit the ground.

Josh Loveless, who was with Olzak, has said three cars followed them after they left a bar. Loveless said after they were almost ran off of the road, he and Olzak got out of the vehicle, only to be beaten immediately for no apparent reason. Loveless had to undergo surgery on his jaw.

Cox is facing up to 15 years in prison and a $15,000 fine.