The sister of a North Hall man who died after being struck in the neck with a tree limb told a judge Thursday that her half-brother was justified in dealing the fatal blow.

"This was self-defense," Rebecca Stephenson testified at a bond hearing for her half-brother, 26-year-old murder defendant Ricky Gable. "He killed his brother the very first time he stood up for himself, and he’s going to have live with this for the rest of his life."

Stephenson described the victim, 36-year-old Steven Paul Brookshire, as a danger to others.

"He was an angry individual, he always wanted to fight," Stephenson told Hall County Superior Court Judge Kathlene Gosselin. "And he took it out on Ricky and me and whoever else was around. God rest his soul, I hope he rests in peace. Drugs overtook him."

Brookshire died from brain injuries in an Atlanta hospital a day after being struck with the limb outside his mother’s mobile home on Ledan Extension. Authorities said the two men were fighting at the time Brookshire was injured. A prosecutor said Thursday that alcohol was a factor.

Four family members and a neighbor testified Thursday on Gable’s behalf, including Barbara Gable, the mother of both the victim and the accused. All said he would not be a risk to flee or commit crimes.

"Steven, Ricky and I all lived in the home," Gable testified. "Nobody but me lives there now."

Gosselin agreed to grant bond for Gable, though she set the amount at $120,000 after his attorney asked for a bond of $50,000.

The judge said she heard no evidence in Thursday’s hearing that Gable was a flight risk or a risk to commit another felony. She also decided he was not a risk of influencing witnesses in the case, one of the main factors prosecutors cited in opposing bond.

If he is able to make bond, Gable is likely to move back in with his mother, a witness in the case. Public defender Anne Watson said after the hearing that Barbara Gable did not see Brookshire being struck with the tree limb.

Several times during the hearing, Watson referred to Brookshire’s death as "an accident."

Gable, his hair cut short since his arrest and wearing a shirt and tie, addressed the judge at the close of the hearing, saying, "Thank you very much."

As of late Thursday, Gable had not posted bond and remained in the Hall County jail.

Bond for murder defendants in Georgia is not commonplace, but not unusual.

In May, murder defendant Billy Nicely was released on a $220,000 bond set by Hall County Superior Court Judge Jason Deal, with numerous conditions. Nicely, 25, is accused of killing his girlfriend’s 13-month old daughter by striking her in the head with an unknown object. He remains free on bond awaiting trial.

Solomon Hester was free for more than a year on $50,000 bond before a Hall County jury convicted him of murder in March in the shooting death of his live-in girlfriend.