Jurors head into third day of deliberations in DoorDash shooting involving Chester highway superintendent

After a second day of deliberations following last week’s trial in which Chester Highway Superintendent John Reilly was accused of unlawfully shooting DoorDash driver Alpha Oumar Barry outside his Valerie Drive home last May, an Orange County jury did not render a verdict Wednesday, March 25.

Reilly, a Chester native, faces 14 counts including attempted murder, multiple counts of assault, criminal possession of a weapon and related weapons charges.

Defense appreciates jury’s efforts

On Wednesday, the jury foreperson asked Judge Craig Brown for another opportunity to watch Ring doorbell footage of the shooting and for him to explain “depraved indifference” in relation to one of the assault charges.

Reilly’s attorney, Thomas Kenniff, said the past two days show the jury is taking key aspects of the case seriously.

“The jury is really being conscientious examining the evidence and we think the more they do that the more likely they are to get to a not guilty verdict in this case,” Kenniff said after Judge Brown dismissed jurors Wednesday afternoon. “During my [Monday] summation, I encouraged them to watch the video because if you really scrutinize it, it shows so many things my client was doing that are inconsistent with an intent to kill and inconsistent with an intent to assault and inconsistent with what he was really trying to do which was get what he reasonably perceived as a threat off his property.”

Senior Assistant Orange County District Attorney Nicholas Mangold said he cannot comment on the trial.

Legal definition of justification questioned

Yesterday, the jury asked how the legal definition of “justification” pertains to four of the charges Reilly faces.

The legal standard of justification is a defense claiming an actor’s otherwise criminal conduct was necessary, right and not wrong under the circumstances (such as self-defense). It requires a reasonable belief that action was immediately necessary to prevent a greater harm, with force that is proportional to the threat.

Jurors are due to be reconvened at county court at 9 a.m. Thursday.

This story will be updated.

Background

In initial trial proceedings last week, Kenniff said Reilly was home with his wife and 12-year-old daughter on the evening of May 2, 2025, when his daughter told him a stranger was at the door. Kenniff said that individual – Barry, then 24, from Conakry, Guinea – was at the front door asking to come inside the Valerie Drive home. Reilly, Kenniff said, felt Barry, who spoke little English and could not communicate well, posed a threat to him and his family.

Prosecutor Mangold said Barry, who had recently arrived legally in the U.S., became lost in Reilly’s Chester neighborhood and was only at Reilly’s front door holding a bag of food to ask for help charging his phone, not asking to come inside Reilly’s home.

After a conversation at the front door in which the defense says Reilly repeatedly told Barry to leave, Reilly got a gun, went outside and fired two shots into his front yard as Barry was back in his car. The defense says that Reilly continued to be concerned about Barry’s intentions when Barry did not leave after two warning shots and additional commands to leave. The third shot went through the trunk of Barry’s car, through the driver’s seat and hit Barry in the back, causing severe injuries to Barry’s stomach and abdomen.

The defense contends Reilly never meant to cause harm to Barry.

While agreeing that the first shot was a warning shot, prosecutors said Reilly purposely shot Barry through the back as he was trying to leave.

“Bullets go where guns are pointed,” Mangold said during Monday’s closing arguments.