Alleged murder-for-hire-plot thickens with trial upcoming
Updated 8:01 pm, Thursday, April 12, 2018
SCHENECTADY — Tarchand Lall stands accused of paying an alleged hitman $10,000 to kill one of his part-time workers so he could collect on a $150,000 life insurance policy, according to court papers and lawyers involved with the criminal case.
And while in jail awaiting trial on that crime, the Schenectady contractor allegedly paid an inmate $1,500 to try to convince the alleged shooter, Joevany 'Moon' Luna, to write a statement that the November 2016 contract killing of Charles Dembrosky was a drug deal gone bad, according to copies of hand-written jail notes obtained by the Times Union.
Lall would occasionally hire Dembrosky, 49, to perform general contracting and landscaping work for his construction company.
The inmate, identified by Lall only as "Gutter," may testify for the prosecution once the first-degree murder and conspiracy trial of Luna and his alleged accomplice, Kyshaan Moore, gets under way in a Schenectady County courtroom. Jury selection is expected to start April 23 or 24.
The pair are from Wilmington, Del., where they once worked together at Dunkin' Donuts.
It's because of these allegations involving the jail inmate that Lall, 53, is being tried separately, according to attorney Mark Juda, who represents Luna, 42.
"There's supposedly an inmate at the jail who's going to say that Lall paid him to try and influence Luna to indicate that he wasn't involved in this in any way," Juda said.
He said that his client was never contacted about the alleged agreement between Lall and the inmate.
In court papers, the prosecution indicates in part that "certain statements made by Tarchand Lall to other witnesses would be ... incriminating with respect to Joevany Luna."
Lall's trial is scheduled to start May 29. He is being represented by Cheryl Coleman, who did not return a call seeking comment.
The three defendants, all of whom have pleaded not guilty to the offenses, are charged with two counts each of criminal possession of a weapon. If convicted on the top count of first-degree murder, the men could face a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.
Juda said Thursday that Luna wasn't in Schenectady when Dembrosky was shot and killed outside his Campbell Avenue house in his Bellevue neighborhood just before 7 a.m. Nov. 19, 2016.
Assistant District Attorney Pete Willis did not respond to a message left Thursday with a secretary at the District Attorney's Office.
Attorney Mike Mansion, representing Moore, said all the evidence against his client is circumstantial and there's nothing linking Moore to the homicide.
Moore, 27, allegedly drove a car belonging to his girlfriend's grandmother from Wilmington to Schenectady and then back to Wilmington after Dembrosky was gunned down. The women are not facing criminal charges.
The white sedan was captured by street surveillance cameras in Schenectady as it traveled from Campbell Avenue and Broadway into the Mont Pleasant neighborhood where Lall lives.
The weapon, identified in court papers as a 9mm gun, has not been recovered.