By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ASHLAND – A Clay County Circuit Court judge has delayed a hearing to determine if a 21-year-old Vincent murder suspect will be granted youthful offender status after the suspect’s attorney requested more time for the man’s mental evaluation.

Circuit Court Judge George Simpson originally was set to decide during a March 23 hearing if he would grant youthful offender status to Loren Daniel Bunner.

Bunner has been charged with shooting and killing 18-year-old Vincent resident Jolee Callan in Clay County in August 2015.

On March 17, Bunner’s attorney, Gregory Varner, requested the youthful offender hearing be delayed to allow more time for a mental health evaluation of the suspect.

According to Varner’s request, Bunner “may suffer from Asperger’s syndrome.”

“The existence of a mental disorder is certainly relevant to the defendant’s eligibility for youthful offender status,” read Varner’s request. “A medical determination of disorder is specifically relevant for a youthful hearing adjudication. If Asperger’s syndrome is present, there is a greater possibility of misinterpretation of behaviors and characteristics typical of those with Asperger’s syndrome since these behaviors and characteristics could be misinterpreted as evidence of guilt, indifference or lack of remorse.”

Simpson is now set to rule on the youthful offender request during an April 20 hearing at 9 a.m. at the Clay County Courthouse.

Loren Daniel Bunner’s attorneys requested youthful offender status for Bunner on March 4. Bunner currently is charged as an adult in the crime.

If he is granted youthful offender status, Bunner would waive his right to a trial by jury, and would be tried by the court without a jury. Bunner also would face a less-severe range of punishments if he is granted youthful offender status.

Bunner’s Aug. 31, 2015, arrest came one day after the sheriff’s office received a report of a homicide on the Pinhoti Trail in Cheaha State Park in Delta.

If found guilty as an adult on the murder charge, Bunner could face up to life in prison. The maximum sentence for youthful offenders is three years in jail.

After searching the area, sheriff’s deputies discovered Callan’s body. Callan, a 2015 graduate of Vincent High School, was shot and killed with a .22-caliber Ruger Bearcat revolver, deputies said.

In addition to the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, the Oxford Police Department, Cleburne County Sheriff’s Office, Jacksonville State University Forensics, U.S. Forestry Department agents, Cleburne County Search and Rescue and Clay County Search and Rescue assisted in the investigation of the crime.

Bunner was released from the Clay County Jail on Sept. 16, 2015, after posting a $150,000 bond.