OCALA, Fla. — A man accused of randomly shooting and killing an Ocala resident as he gardened in his front yard pleaded for release in court, but a judge ruled he will remain behind bars without bond until trial.
Isaac Toye, 29, appeared in a Marion County courtroom wearing an orange jail uniform as prosecutors argued he poses a danger to the community and should stay in custody pending trial.
During the hearing, Toye made a personal appeal, telling the court he would comply with conditions if released.
“If the court tells you to stay away from weapons, can you?” a defense attorney asked.
“Yes,” Toye responded.
Toye’s mother also testified, promising to supervise her son if he were granted bond. But prosecutors questioned her ability to do so, referencing statements she previously made to investigators.
“Did you tell police that you were not aware your son had left the house?” a prosecutor asked.
“I’m not sure I remember telling the police that,” she replied.
Ocala Police say Toye killed 64-year-old Harold Harper, who was shot in the back of the head while gardening outside his Ocala home in January. Investigators said Harper had been working in his yard with headphones on when his wife heard a gunshot and went outside to find him dead.
A detective testified that Harper had taken up gardening as a form of therapy after recent surgery.
Investigators said Toye had purchased a gun just days before the shooting. That weapon was later recovered during a search captured on police body camera footage, shortly after the killing. Officers also encountered Toye in the neighborhood around the time of the investigation.
“Why somebody say they saw you carrying a gun down the road,” an officer is heard saying in the footage.
Prosecutors may have a key challenge in the case: there are no eyewitnesses to the actual shooting. A grainy still image from the victim’s Ring doorbell camera may be the strongest evidence placing Toye near the scene, along with eyewitnesses who saw him in the area before and after the shooting.
“The camera will show an exact time of how long the recording would have been, but that camera did not have the subscription to play the recording, so it only took a still shot,” Ocala Police Detective Mark Pfeifer testified.
Despite the defense’s arguments, Judge Barbara Kwatkosky denied bond, ruling that releasing Toye would pose too great a risk.
He will remain in the Marion County Jail as the case moves toward trial.
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