Baltimore man faces trial for role in deadly confrontation

MEDIA COURTHOUSE » A Baltimore man is on trial this week for his alleged involvement in what turned out to be a deadly domestic dispute for an alleged accomplice.

Rashad Daries Mosley, 30, of Baltimore, is charged with burglary, aggravated assault, weapons charges and conspiracy for the Dec. 10, 2016, altercation in a home on the 800 block of Upland Street that resulted in the shooting death of 32-year-old Eric Chappell.

One of the home’s former residents, Brian Hammond, testified that he was in the process of moving out that day. Hammond said he was loading some belongings into a moving truck when two men approached him on the street and asked for his brother-in-law, Ahad Smith. Hammond said he told the men he did not know if Smith was inside, then went back into the house and upstairs.

Hammond told Assistant District Attorney Matt DeNucci that his children, aged 5 and 9, were in the downstairs living room watching cartoons. One of them came up the stairs twice to yell that someone was at the door for Smith, according to Hammond.

Hammond said he then heard an argument in the living room and came down to see the two men from the street, later identified as Mosley and Chappell, in his living room. Chappell and Smith were screaming at each other while Mosley was near the front door, according to Hammond. Hammond said Chappell told Mosley “give me the gun” and Mosley began pulling something from a jacket pocket. Hammond said he asked Mosley not to pull the weapon because his children were present. Hammond was also trying to intervene in the yelling match and get the argument out of the house, he said.

Chappell again asked Mosley for a gun, according to Hammond, but again did not pull it out at Hammond’s request, he said. Chappell eventually threw Smith onto a couch near the front door and asked Mosley for the gun a third time, Hammond said. This time, Mosley produced a semiautomatic handgun and handed it to Chappell, according to Hammond.

Chappell allegedly pulled the slide on the weapon, a .40 caliber Taurus, pointed it at Smith’s chest and pulled the trigger, but the gun did not fire. Hammond said Chappell then struck Smith in the side of the head with the weapon. He said Smith was able to stand and engage with Chappell, moving the fight toward a hallway heading to the kitchen at the back of the house.

Hammond said he was able to get between Smith and Chappell, who tossed him into a bathroom off the hallway as Smith ran into the kitchen.

“I’m coming out of the bathroom, I yell, ‘Stop!’” said Hammond. “I see the first assailant (Chappell), he’s coming around toward where Ahad is in the kitchen, raising his arm up.”

That was when Hammond said he drew his own 9 mm Smith and Wesson handgun, firing four shots at Chappell. Hammond is licensed to carry a concealed weapon and the shooting was later determined to be justified.

Hammond called 911 to report the shooting. A recording of that call was played for the jury, in which Hammond could be heard yelling, “Yo! Bring that back!” He explained that Smith had grabbed the gun Chappell was holding and ran out the back door with it, but did return immediately and place the gun by Chappell’s body. Hammond said he did not touch the gun himself.

Defense attorney Stephen Sacks asked why Hammond never told police that day that the weapon had momentarily left the residence. Hammond responded that it was somewhat hectic and it did not occur to him, but he did later confirm that fact with investigators.