Pretrial motions heard in 2021 murder case

Nov. 14—Prosecutors are seeking the admission of additional evidence in an upcoming murder trial.

Whitfield County Superior Court documents indicate defendant Christopher Napoleon Barrett II, 37, of Dalton, is facing two counts of murder, one count of armed robbery, one count of concealing a death, one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

He was arrested on Aug. 19, 2021, and is accused of murdering Adairsville resident David Casler-Tyrrell in an alleged robbery outside a bakery on Cleveland Highway.

A lengthy pretrial hearing was in Whitfield County Superior Court on Friday. Conasauga Judicial Circuit Judge Scott Minter oversaw the proceedings.

"The state will produce one witness to establish a factual summary, just a brief factual summary for your Honor to understand the evidence in this case," Conasauga Judicial Circuit District Attorney Benjamin Kenemer told the court. "The state's position in this argument that we're going to have is that the need for this evidence is very high given the factual summary we have."

The 404(b) motion filed by the state asks the court to allow evidence of "other crimes" committed by the defendant to jurors.

"Mr. Barrett was convicted of armed robbery, aggravated assault and obstruction of a law enforcement officer as a misdemeanor," Kenemer said.

According to Georgia Department of Corrections data, those offenses in Whitfield County stem from 2008.

Former Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) special agent Eric White testified at the hearing.

"David's company vehicle, which was a Chrysler Pacifica, had been involved in a police pursuit that started in Benton, Tennessee, and ended in Englewood, Tennessee," White said. "Where Mr. Christopher Barrett was arrested for driving the vehicle."

He said when Barrett was arrested in Tennessee, the defendant was found in possession of two firearms.

"One of which belonged to David Casler-Tyrrell," he testified.

White noted that two alleged co-defendants — Andrew Isaac Connor and Darious Daquan-Martinez Knight — were also arrested.

"During the course of an interview that (police) conducted with Isaac, Isaac was extremely upset," White said. "Isaac told them that Mr. Barrett had approached he and Darious Knight, asked for a ride. They took Isaac's car, which was a Hyundai, and they drove it to a location up on Cleveland Highway, he said it was a pharmacy."

White said it was at that location that Barrett allegedly showed the co-defendants the body of Casler-Tyrrell.

"Who was in the trunk of the Chrysler Pacifica van that he drove," White continued. "Mr. Barrett told them, according to Isaac, that he had shot Mr. Casler-Tyrrell and that he had killed him because there was a lot of valuable stuff in the vehicle."

Connor and Knight subsequently entered negotiated guilty pleas to concealing a death of another and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon/first offender-probationer in Whitfield County Superior Court.

"They take Mr. Casler-Tyrrell's body, they put him in the trunk of Isaac Connor's Hyundai — at that point, they all go back to Darious Knight's grandfather's house, which is in Tunnel Hill," White said. "We recovered the body from the Hyundai at the residence."

White said there are no witnesses to the alleged murder, nor any video footage evidence capturing the incident.

"Darious had stated that the weapon that was used to shoot Mr. Casler-Tyrell was a pistol that had a Blount County, Tennessee, sheriff's office, essentially, stamp on it, like, from the badge, where it was a government gun," White testified. "He told us the location of that weapon, which was at his grandfather's house."

The scene of the alleged murder, near the parking lot of Bimbo Bakery at 2015 Cleveland Highway in Dalton, was processed.

White said he saw a .40-caliber shell casing and broken glass at the location.

"The broken glass was matched by the GBI Crime Lab to be consistent with that of what was in the sample I took from the Chrysler Pacifica," he said.

White and another agent questioned Barrett in Athens, Tennessee.

He said Barrett was properly informed of his Miranda rights and "freely and voluntarily" spoke to the GBI officials.

"He stated that he had been just walking around earlier in the day, he mentioned going into a gas station and getting a drink," White recounted. "He had walked over to a business and it was dark, he was walking around with a flashlight and there was a vehicle parked behind the business — he approached the vehicle and observed a man to be leaned over the steering wheel of the car."

According to White, Barrett told investigators Casler-Tyrrell "brandished a firearm" at him and told him to leave.

"He explained to us, essentially, that he had kind of taken a step back after that but then grabbed his own firearm and shot the individual," White testified.

Per White, Barrett told the investigators the shooting was an act of self-defense.

"The driver's side window was up and he was shot through the driver's side window," White said.

Also speaking on behalf of the state at the hearing was Conasauga Judicial Circuit Assistant District Attorney Corey Rosenberger.

"He pled guilty and was convicted, so there's evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed the crimes that the state is wanting to introduce during this trial," he told the court. "The state is wanting to introduce these prior 'bad acts' for the purpose of intent."

Barrett was represented by attorney Jerry W. Moncus during Friday's hearing.

"The defense has requested multiple psychological evaluations, one of those for the defendant's mental capacity at the time of the crime," Rosenberger said. "The state is allowed to use that evidence to prove the defendant was not suffering from those delusions, again to prove intent."

The admissibility of those previous convictions, Rosenberger said, would be pivotal for the state's argument in the absence of any eyewitness testimony or video footage related to the alleged crimes.

"The state intends to show the testimony of the two co-defendants as well as some physical evidence," he continued. "The state very much needs (the evidence) in order to prove intent of the armed robbery."

Rosenberger said Barrett was imprisoned from April 21, 2008, until Feb. 18, 2021, for the previous armed robbery and aggravated assault convictions.

"Essentially, less than a year has passed with the defendant as a free man before he is alleged to have committed these new crimes," he said. "I anticipate the defense being kind of a quasi-mental health defense as well as self-defense, and this would go to rebut any sort of argument that the defense tries to make about the defendant's state of mind as it relates to his mental health at the time of the event — given that he was convicted in the 2008 case and had no mental health problems that were raised at that time."

Moncus, however, contended that Barrett's mental health status was an issue in his previous cases.

"Ultimately, the decision was decided there was no competency issue," he told the court. "All we're doing in this case is following the same thing that occurred in each of the other cases. This is a situation where there's an alleged shooting, any robbery would have taken place after the victim was deceased ... it is so prejudicial, a jury could simply hear the fact that he's been accused of another issue and associate that with the shooting itself."

Minter did not make any official rulings on the admissibility of the evidence at the hearing on Friday.

Rather, he said he would render a "written ruling" on the matter. No date was specified for when that ruling would be issued.

"There may be the need for some other necessary motions, but I'd ask your Honor to have it down for the January calendar call date," Kenemer said. "And looking to try it in January."