Jury is out for Md. man accused in deadly altercation

MEDIA COURTHOUSE » Deliberations began Thursday in the trial of a Maryland man for his alleged role in a Chester domestic dispute turned deadly.

Rashad Daries Mosley, 30, of Baltimore, is charged with burglary, aggravated assault, weapons charges and conspiracy for a 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.

The case is being tried before Delaware County Common Pleas Court Judge Barry C. Dozor.

The jury heard from the shooter Wednesday, Brian Hammond, who testified that Chappell entered the house and began fighting with his fiancé’s brother, Ahad Smith.

During the course of the fight, Hammond said Mosley handed Chappell a gun. At one point, Chappell allegedly pushed Hammond into a bathroom off of a hallway, then continued to pursue Smith into a kitchen in the back of the house.

“I’m coming out of the bathroom, I yell, ‘Stop!’” said Hammond. “I see (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.

Smith told Assistant District Attorney Matt DeNucci that he did not see Chappell come around the corner of the hallway into the kitchen, but did see the gun raising up and Chappell’s arm moments before he was shot. Smith said he grabbed the gun from Chappell and ran out the back door.

“I didn’t know if he was going to get back up, I didn’t know if he was dead, none of that, so I grabbed the gun and I just left out the back door,” he said.

Defense attorney Stephen Sacks noted that Smith told police in a subsequent interview that he believed Chappell was already dead at that point, however.

Hammond could be heard on a 911 call yelling for Smith to bring the gun back. Smith said he did return the gun and wiped his prints off it before placing it near Chappell.

Chester Detective Victor Heness said he had not heard that Smith wiped the gun until his testimony.

Heness said he was able to track a running car with Maryland plates that had been left outside the residence to a woman in Baltimore who told investigators she loaned the car to Mosely and Chappell.

Heness said DNA testing was performed on certain items left in the car, but Mosley could not by identified as a contributor.

Jurors also heard from Smith’s sister and Hammond’s fiancé, Brittani Smith. All three said they witnessed Mosley pass Chappell the gun during the fight and positively identified him in photo arrays.

Brittani Smith said she took her children upstairs and called 911 when the gun appeared, but did not return to the back of the house after the shooting. Smith said he later spoke with her on the phone and joined her at Chester Police Headquarters to give a statement.

Chappell is the brother of Smith’s child’s mother. He admitted their relationship had been troubled in the period leading up to Chappell’s death and that she had taken out a protection from abuse order on him.

Though Hammond claimed Chappell had cocked the gun and pointed it at Smith after receiving it from Mosley, Smith said Chappell never pointed the gun at him. Smith said Chappell did strike him in the head with the gun twice as he was pinned to a couch.

County Detective Louis Grandizio also testified that four cartridge casings at the scene and two bullets recovered from Chappell matched Hammond’s 9 mm Smith and Wesson pistol. There was no evidence that the other weapon, a Taurus .40 caliber, had been shot, said Grandizio.