BEND — The man accused of plotting to kill people at Smith Rock State Park will remain in custody until his trial after a Deschutes County Circuit Court judge denied his defense attorney’s request for conditional release on APRIL 5.

Samson Garner, 39, has been held in Deschutes County jail since Oct. 19, when law enforcement officers arrested him in connection with an alleged plot to kill spectators and belayers at an event at Smith Rock. He made his first in-person court appearance Friday in Deschutes County Circuit Court.

Garner’s court-appointed attorney, Joel Wirtz, argued the charges against Garner — of which there are 26, including four counts of attempted murder — are a result of turning mental illness into a crime.

“Mr. Garner is now a sacrificial lamb,” Wirtz said in court Friday.

Weeks before he was arrested in Deschutes County, Garner expressed suicidal and homicidal ideas in an email to friends and family, according to court records. That email, paired with Garner’s travel to Deschutes County, amounted to a substantial step toward committing the crimes alleged against him, prosecutors argued Friday.

Police found Garner near Tumalo on Oct. 19 listening to music, “sitting in a lawn chair, flip-flops on, enjoying a beer at a Maston trailhead parking lot after a great morning of mountain biking,” court documents said.

“He was a risk when he was sitting there in his flip-flops, and he continues to be a risk,” Mary Anderson, chief deputy district attorney, said in court Friday.

Detective Sgt. James McLaughlin of the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office testified in court Friday. He is an assistant commander on the sheriff’s office’s SWAT team, which frequently collaborates with other agencies in Central Oregon.

McLaughlin said what law enforcement officers found in Garner’s Subaru that day was more than enough to arm a typical SWAT officer.

They found a Beretta 9 mm handgun, a Sig Sauer 9 mm handgun and an AR-15 rifle, as previously reported by The Bulletin, plus a significant amount of ammunition.

“I would not have near this amount of ammunition,” McLaughlin said in court.

The sheriff’s office recommended Garner appear in court in full restraints given the seriousness of his charges, according to court records. Instead, he appeared cleanly shaven and in a suit.

Judge Alison Emerson rejected the request for bail reduction and release from jail even with conditions, which means Garner will likely remain in jail until his trial. His bail remains at $10 million.

The trial, initially set for May, is now scheduled for October. However, Wirtz has filed a motion with the court to change the venue of the trial out of concern for Garner’s ability to have an impartial jury in Deschutes County.