Man waives his hearing in fatal shooting
Derrick Cosby headed to trial in county court
A Hatfield man accused of killing another man during a house party in July is now headed to Montgomery County court.
Derrick Jason Cosby, 43, of the 2400 block of Orvilla Road waived his preliminary hearing Monday in the shooting death of Jeremy Chasteen, 31, on July 22.
“It’s an unfortunate situation for everybody that’s involved in this case,” said attorney Edward Galang, on behalf of Cosby.
Cosby faces one count of first-degree voluntary manslaughter and one first-degree misdemeanor charge of possessing an instrument of crime, which stem from a July 22 incident that led to the death of Chasteen.
“The primary issue is whether the force that was
utilized by my client was appropriate under the law. It’s a justification issue, that will be addressed through the courts,” Galang said.
Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Richard Bradbury said the waived hearing was Cosby’s “acknowledging that we have enough to be able to satisfy today’s burden,” to continue to a full trial at the county level.
“The idea behind voluntary manslaughter is that someone behaved in a way that was not legally justified. That’s going to be the charge, moving forward,” Bradbury said.
According to the criminal complaint against Cosby, he and his family were hosting a party at their Orvilla Road home on July 22, and Chasteen, his wife, and their six children were among the guests. During the investigation, according to police, Cosby said he had started carrying his unloaded .45 caliber Glock 30 handgun as the party moved into the evening hours, and a disagreement developed between Chasteen and his wife about driving home from the party.
Cosby told police he saw Chasteen drive away, then return and tell his wife to get into the car, then allegedly punch his wife after she refused. According to police, Cosby told detectives that Chasteen then pushed Cosby and another male and hit his wife again, at which time Cosby then went upstairs and loaded his weapon. Cosby told police that after loading the weapon, he then saw Chasteen “pushing through people” to get to his wife, and Cosby told Chasteen to leave, Chasteen tried to push Cosby, and Cosby then fired one shot, hitting Chasteen in the head.
Cosby then called police and reported “there was a domestic violence case in my...house and I just shot a guy,” according to a police transcript of the 911 call.
During the court appearance Monday, Cosby and his family sat silently next to Chasteen’s family, and neither family commented after the hearing was waived. District Judge Andrea Duffy warned Cosby not to have any contact with the victim’s family, and said that included any contact between third parties or through various other methods.
“I want to be extremely clear: that means no contact by email, text, phone, social media, carrier pigeon. No contact is no contact,” Duffy said.
“I hope everyone here understands that escalation right now is in no one’s best interest, certainly not Mr. Cosby’s,” she said.
Cosby remains free on 10 percent of $75,000 bond, which was posted shortly after his arrest in early August, with conditions that he not contact the victim’s family or possess a weapon, and his formal arraignment is scheduled for Nov. 8 in Montgomery County court.