https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Trials-starts-in-Schenectady-murder-for-hire-case-12866688.php
Digital clues tie men to murder-for-hire plot in Schenectady, prosecutor says
Updated 6:52 pm, Thursday, April 26, 2018
Mark Juda delivers his opening arguments at a murder-for-hire trial on Thursday.
Mark Juda delivers his opening arguments at a murder-for-hire trial on Thursday.
Assistant Schenectady County District Attorney Peter Willis delivers his opening arguments at a murder-for-hire trial on Thursday.
Assistant Schenectady County District Attorney Peter Willis delivers his opening arguments at a murder-for-hire trial on Thursday.
Joevany "Moon" Luna listsens as his attorney, Mark Juda delivers his opening arguments at a murder-for-hire trial on Thursday.
Joevany "Moon" Luna listsens as his attorney, Mark Juda delivers his opening arguments at a murder-for-hire trial on Thursday.
Assistant Schenectady County District Attorney Peter Willis delivers his opening arguments at a murder-for-hire trial on Thursday.
Assistant Schenectady County District Attorney Peter Willis delivers his opening arguments at a murder-for-hire trial on Thursday.
Assistant Schenectady County District Attorney Peter Willis delivers his opening arguments at a murder-for-hire trial on Thursday.
Assistant Schenectady County District Attorney Peter Willis delivers his opening arguments at a murder-for-hire trial on Thursday.
Mark Juda delivers his opening arguments at a murder-for-hire trial on Thursday.
Mark Juda delivers his opening arguments at a murder-for-hire trial on Thursday.
Mark Juda delivers his opening arguments at a murder-for-hire trial on Thursday.
Mark Juda delivers his opening arguments at a murder-for-hire trial on Thursday.
Schenectady County Judge Matthew Sypnieski speaks to the jury before opening arguments began at a murder-for-hire trial on Thursday.
Schenectady County Judge Matthew Sypnieski speaks to the jury before opening arguments began at a murder-for-hire trial on Thursday.
Assistant Schenectady County District Attorney Peter Willis delivers his opening arguments at a murder-for-hire trial on Thursday.
Assistant Schenectady County District Attorney Peter Willis delivers his opening arguments at a murder-for-hire trial on Thursday.
Defense attorney Mark Juda and his client, Joevany "Moon" Luna, talk as Luna's murder trial got underway Thursday in Schenectady County Court.
Defense attorney Mark Juda and his client, Joevany "Moon" Luna, talk as Luna's murder trial got underway Thursday in Schenectady County Court.
SCHENECTADY — Police charged two Delaware men with the 2016 murder-for-hire of 49-year-old Charles Dembrosky by tracing digital clues left by cell phones, surveillance camera footage and secretly recorded phone conversations of the alleged killers, a prosecutor told jurors Thursday.
"When each of these pieces is fit together, you will be led to one inescapable conclusion: Joevany Luna and Kyshaan Moore killed Charles Dembrosky," Assistant District Attorney Peter Willis said.
Luna, 42, the alleged triggerman known as "Moon," and Moore, 27, the alleged getaway driver, both from Wilmington, are on trial in Schenectady County Court charged with the first-degree murder of Dembrosky during the predawn hours of Nov. 19, 2016.
Dembrosky, known as Chuck, was discovered by his friend and roommate on the steps of his Campbell Avenue home — the victim of a single shot to the neck, Willis said in his opening statement.
Police found no signs of a struggle or robbery, but discovered a cell phone in the victim's back pocket containing three calls just hours earlier from a "484" area code, Willis said.
In a half-hour opening statement, Willis explained that police learned the phone had been used by Luna to call Dembrosky's friend, Tarchand Lall, repeatedly from the end of October 2016 up until the night of the slaying.
The prosecutor said the men killed Dembrosky as a contract hit for Lall, who had taken out a $150,000 insurance policy on Dembrosky's life.
"They did it in the expectation of being paid $10,000," Willis said.
Before the murder, Lall received a $10,000-plus check from his attorney and put half of it into cash on Nov. 10, then withdrew the other half on Nov. 16, Willis said.
He said that was the amount of money Luna told someone he was being paid to kill a person in upstate New York.
The evidence against the defendants includes a wiretap of "these two defendants talking to each other about the crime," Willis said.
Willis said two days before the murder, Luna text-messaged the name of "Brandi Moore, Wilmington, Delaware," to Lall.
The prosecutor said a friend of Lall texted him saying, "I just sent the money" and "I also sent the information to Brandi."
Willis said it was a reference to Brandi Moore, Luna's girlfriend at the time. He said two days before the murder, Lall asked a friend to send $700 to Brandi Moore in Wilmington as pre-payment in "expenses" to Luna.
Brandi Moore, now an ex-girlfriend of Luna, is expected to testify that, the day after the slaying, Luna returned home with a gun and asked her for bleach to soak it in, Willis said.
Police also discovered that several hours before the homicide, that same cell phone was recorded by cell phone towers in Delaware, New Jersey, the Hudson Valley and Schenectady, Willis said.
The car was last seen in the Bellevue neighborhood where Dembrosky lived and was shot.
The vehicle was owned by a girlfriend of Kyshaan Moore, Willis said.
"She will testify that Kyshaan Moore told her he was in that car that night and that he was at the scene of a shooting," Willis said. "And when she pressed him for more information, she'll testify he said, 'The less you know, the better.'"
Willis said evidence includes surveillance footage of a four-door red 2015 Mazda driving on the Thruway and and in and out of Schenectady — including arriving at Lall's home for about 10 minutes about an hour before the murder, he said.
Michael Mansion, the attorney for Moore, reminded jurors the burden of proof lies completely on the district attorney's office.
He stressed that his client and Luna are being tried in separate trials — even though at the same time.
In an opening statement of more than four minutes, Mansion told jurors to focus not on the evidence but the lack of it against Moore.
Mark Juda, the lawyer for Luna, quickly attacked the prosecutor's case.
"Ladies and gentlemen, if things were as simple as Mr. Willis made out for you, I submit to you we wouldn't be here," Juda told jurors.
Willis objected to Juda's commentary, which Judge Matthew Sypniewski sustained.
The trial is expected to last about two-and-a-half weeks. The defendants are also charged with conspiracy and weapon possession.
If convicted of the first-degree murder charge they face life in prison without the possibility of parole.
