Jury hears opening statements in trial of Christian Bey, man accused of killing Pittsburgh officer Calvin Hall
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - A jury on Tuesday heard opening arguments in the trial of Christian Bey, who is accused of shooting and killing off-duty Pittsburgh Police Officer Calvin Hall at a party in Homewood.
It was a night of drinking, confusion and violence, with the prosecution and the defense giving different versions of events that led to the death of officer Hall.
When off-duty Pittsburgh Police Officer Calvin Hall died from multiple gunshot wounds to the back, officers from around the country came for his funeral where he was eulogized as a hero who died trying to calm a violent situation.
But on Tuesday, a defense attorney for the accused killer Christian Bey said Hall was intoxicated and unruly that night and vowed to show it was Hall who initiated conflicts that led up to his fatal shooting -- despite the police version of events.
"The Pittsburgh police should not have handled this case," said defense attorney Carmen Robinson. "Pittsburgh police put out a narrative that he was acting as a hero police officer. You will see the decedent was bullying that night."
But in her opening statement, Assistant District Attorney Stephie-Anna Ramaley said the case wasn't about the actions of Hall but rather the defendant, Bey, and asked the jury to remember two things.
"One: Officer Hall is not on trial here," she said. "Two: physical evidence doesn't lie."
Both sides describe a late-night house party that had turned violent and spilled out onto Monticello Street, and the prosecution maintains that Hall was shot in the back while coming to the aid of a cousin.
They presented a witness who said she arrived on the scene during the altercation and heard three gunshots and saw a muzzle flash coming from between two houses across the street, where police found a .45 caliber handgun -- the same caliber of the rounds which killed Hall. Though initially unsure when she looked at a photo array of suspects, she later identified the shooter as Bey.
"All of this physical evidence shows the defendant is guilty," Ramaley told the jury. "And I'm going to ask you to find Christian Bey guilty of first-degree murder."
Defense attorney Robinson challenged the witness on how she could see so well in the dark, and in her opening statement, said it was Bey who had tried to break up the party and had been telling people to leave when he was confronted by Hall, telling Bey: "Hey cuz, you got a problem with me? People said you've been calling me crazy."
Hall died in the hospital three days after the shooting. Robinson said when he was shot, police discovered an empty gun holster in his waistband and located the gun in his car. Intimating the gun is central to Bey's defense, Robinson said: "That gun will become critically important."
The prosecution is set to present more than a dozen more witnesses and the trial is expected to take at least two weeks.