Two men accused of shooting two other men to death outside the Heat Night Club in Huber Heights last year were found not guilty by a jury Wednesday.
Korwyn Moore, 21, was indicted of shooting to death 20-year-old Keenan Hall while Michael A. Hall, 26, was indicted of shooting to death 25-year-old Charles W. Bell III after a fight outside the now-closed bar on May 11, 2013. Keenan Hall was Michael Hall’s brother.
Although Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Dennis Langer asked for silence while the jury delivered the verdict, those in the crowd cried out and clapped when the two men were exonerated. Hall and Moore embraced after the decision, and Moore wept while hugging his attorney.
After losing one brother in the violence, sister Lamari Hagler said she feared she’d never see Hall again. Watching him walk out of the Montgomery County Jail a free man, she was overjoyed.
“He was fighting for his life,” she said. “We lost one to the grave. We didn’t want to lose one to the cell.”
The shooting happened at a “Rest in Peace” party for one of Moore’s friends, but quickly turned chaotic. Witnesses told investigators people were fighting with pool sticks, empty bottles of $250 Moet champagne and women used high-heeled shoes. Despite there being more than 150 people at the party, many scattered before police arrived. Officers did not recover the weapons used to kill Bell and Keenan Hall, although investigators tied Moore and Hall to the murders through witness statements.
Jim Christon, Hall’s attorney, and Tina McFall, Moore’s attorney, argued it was too dark for witnesses to clearly identify the shooters, and there wasn’t enough evidence to prove their clients were responsible for the deaths.
“The jury saw this case for what it was, it was a bad crime scene. There was 150 people there in the middle… of the parking lot fighting and what could you see? No one could see anything,” Christon said.
With so few witnesses willing to come forward, Montgomery County assistant prosecutor David Franscechelli said the person or people responsible for these murders are still on the street.
“We’re all after the truth so if someone came forward and saw something different, tell us that. If they saw other people doing this, tell us,” he said.
Moore was found guilty by Judge Dennis Langer of having weapons of disability. He faces a possible three years in prison on that charge. He is scheduled to remain in jail without bond until sentencing May 28.
