Trial begins in shooting death of off-duty Pittsburgh Police officer Calvin Hall

Deputy District Attorney Stephie Ramaley told the jurors in her opening statement Tuesday to focus their attention on evidence against the man charged with homicide — not the man who was killed.

“Calvin Hall is not on trial in this case,” she said. “You will hear no evidence that Calvin Hall introduced deadly force in that argument.”

Christian Bey, 34, is charged with homicide and firearms counts for the July 14, 2019, shooting of Hall, an off-duty Pittsburgh police officer.

“Physical evidence does not lie,” Ramaley told the jury.

Among those pieces of evidence, the prosecutor said, was a .45-caliber handgun found a day after the shooting in a nearby backyard.

“The DNA on that firearm — that did turn out to be the murder weapon — came back to the defendant, Christian Bey,” Ramaley said.

His trial began Tuesday morning before Common Pleas Judge Kevin G. Sasinoski.

The prosecution called just two witnesses Tuesday, including the first officer to arrive after the shooting, as well as a woman who identified Bey as the man responsible for the killing.

The woman, who asked that her name not be published, testified that she had just pulled into the 7300 block of Monticello Street about 1:30 a.m. when she saw a large circle of people standing in the middle of the road arguing.

She recognized several women who lived on the street, as well as the friends she was there to visit, Dawn and Darnell Coates.

Hall, who she did not know, was in the circle, too. She said she saw some shoving.

They appeared to be aggressive and looked like they were pushing him, the witness continued. Hall did not push back.

“Did you ever see Calvin Hall pull out a gun?” Ramaley asked.

“No,” the witness answered.

As the argument continued, the woman said she saw a man on a sidewalk about 10 feet away pacing. Then, she heard gunshots and saw sparks from a gun.

The person she’d seen pacing retreated between two buildings, and the woman said she drove away.

The next day, the woman said she spoke to homicide detectives and identified Bey from a photo array, saying she was 80% sure he was the man she’d seen pacing. Among other things, she said, she remembered him having bushy eyebrows.

Then, on July 17, when she returned to Monticello Street to visit with her friends, she said she saw Bey pull up in an SUV and get out of the car.

She recognized him as the man from the night of the shooting, called homicide detectives and spoke to them again. Ramaley asked the witness if, when she talked to the detectives again, she said she was 100% sure he was the one she’d seen.

The woman could not remember.

On cross-examination, defense attorney Carmen Robinson repeatedly asked the woman if it was Dawn and Darnell Coates who told her to tell police Bey was the shooter.

The witness said that was not the case, and that she recognized him on her own.

During her opening statement Tuesday morning, Ramaley told the panel of seven men and five women of the jury that the scene that night was chaotic.

There had been a block party, she said, and it was rowdy, including arguments and fights.

Then, at 1:35 a.m., there was a ShotSpotter alert for three shots fired in front of 7331 Monticello.

When then-Pittsburgh Police Officer Phillip Szalla arrived, he found Hall, who had been shot three times, lying in the street.

Darnell Coates, who was Hall’s distant cousin, told Szalla that Hall was an officer on the city’s North Side, Szalla testified.

Szalla immediately saw that Hall’s shirt was pulled up, revealing an empty holster.

Szalla asked the witnesses where Hall’s gun was. A short time later, Dawn Coates said it was in Hall’s car in the pocket behind the passenger seat.

Darnell Coates told responding officers that the person who shot Hall came from between buildings on the street, and Dawn Coates said Hall was shot from behind, Ramaley said.

Hall died three days later.

Bey was charged with homicide on July 22, 2019, and the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office filed notice that it would seek capital punishment if Bey was found guilty of first-degree murder.

However, last month, the DA’s office withdrew the notice.

On Tuesday, Robinson told the jury about the DA’s decision to withdraw the death penalty as she began her opening statement.

The prosecution immediately objected, which was followed by a sidebar discussion with the judge. Robinson did not address it again.

Instead, she told the jury that the prosecution failed to give the jurors the whole picture of the fighting and arguing on the street that night.

“They won’t tell you the full story, and there’s a reason — this case is about a rush to judgment and a biased investigation.”

Robinson, a former Pittsburgh officer, told the jury that the city police should never have investigated Hall’s death.

“Pittsburgh police should not have handled this case because the victim was one of their own,” she said.

Immediately, the Pittsburgh police constructed a narrative “consistent with maintaining a hero’s image,” Robinson said. She said the department deliberately put out a statement that Hall attempted to break up a fight when he was killed.

What really happened, Robinson continued, is that others had to stop Hall from fighting that night.

Darnell Coates, the attorney said, “used Calvin as his own private pit bull. That was his attack dog.”

Hall, who did not live in Homewood, returned to Coates’ house three or four times that night, Robinson said.

“Hall confronted at least two other people — either waving his gun or motioning to his gun,” the attorney continued.

He only stopped when another cousin reminded him of all he could lose if he got in trouble, Robinson said.

The attorney also told the jury that her client did not want his mother to host the block party that night.

“She’d promised she wouldn’t have any more parties at their home because when the women drank, it spilled out onto the street. They would fight. They would fight each other.”

That night, she continued, was no exception.

“They’re pushing and shoving and swinging,” Robinson said.

But, police said that the fight ended, and Hall was walking away before any shots were fired.

Robinson called that absurd.

“That’s the story, and that’s the story they accepted,” she said.