Judge dismisses homicide charges against three suspects in fatal Uniontown shooting
All charges against three suspects accused of homicide in the drive-by shooting that killed a teen in Uniontown more than four years ago have been dismissed after a Fayette County judge determined there was insufficient evidence for the case to proceed to trial.
The case against Micha Allen Craig, Malik Belt and Devyon Dennis was formally dropped Thursday following a December habeas hearing before Judge Linda Cordaro, who ruled there wasn’t enough evidence against the three to tie them to the fatal shooting of Kaii McCargo in September 2020.
“It’s a rare occasion that you get charges like that dismissed in a habeas motion, but even after the (November 2023) preliminary hearing, (the prosecution) quite frankly didn’t have any evidence against any of them,” said defense attorney Anthony Jackson, who represented Dennis. “It was word of mouth and they didn’t have any evidence, but they filed charges anyway.”
“We, in the court of law, are bound by evidence,” said defense attorney Blaine Jones, who represented Belt. “It’s not a gut feeling, it’s not hearsay (evidence) or an ‘I wish it was this way.’ Does the commonwealth have the evidence to go forward … and the judge decided that the commonwealth did not meet their burden at the preliminary hearing. You have these men who sat in jail (for years). They just sat in jail. This was a very weak case.”
McCargo, 19, of Uniontown, was a passenger in a vehicle parked in the 100 block of Evans Street in the city on Sept. 4, 2020, when another car pulled up beside it and multiple gunshots were fired, striking him in the head and torso. McCargo died at the scene, while the driver of his car, Issac Michaux, told investigators he was able to roll out of his seat to avoid the gunfire.
Uniontown police filed charges against the three suspects in April 2023, and both Dennis, 19, of Uniontown, and Craig, 24, of Charleroi, were arrested later that month. Belt, 21, of Uniontown, was arrested in September 2023. All three were charged with homicide, attempted homicide, conspiracy and numerous other felony and misdemeanor counts, and were held without bond at the Fayette County jail until this week when they were released.
Fayette County District Attorney Michael Aubele said they were disappointed with Cordaro’s decision, but understood and respected her ruling.
“We sympathize with the (McCargo) family,” he said. “We do believe we had enough to move forward, but unfortunately the evidence in the case wasn’t very strong despite the efforts of Uniontown police and everyone involved. A lot of witnesses we needed didn’t come together.”
Aubele, who inherited the case from former district attorney Richard Bower, said the evidence presented was not as solid as he was hoping when he took office last January. He added that a press conference held by his predecessor in April 2023 in which Bower announced he would seek the death penalty did not help the prosecution.
“The case put together by my predecessor was put together very quickly and very poorly,” Aubele said.
Both Jackson and Jones said they were shocked when their clients were ordered to stand trial following the November 2023 preliminary hearing since prosecutors provided no concrete evidence connecting the three suspects to the killing. Both of their clients, Dennis and Belt, were juveniles at the time of McCargo’s killing.
“You could kinda tell that he did not think it was a strong case,” Jackson said of how he thought Aubele viewed the cast that he inherited. “That being said, after the preliminary hearing you’re allowed to add additional evidence, but they didn’t. …They knew where the case stood and they didn’t fight very hard to dismiss the case.”
Jones, who publicly expressed his displeasure about the case following the preliminary hearing, said Friday that his client and family were still keeping things in perspective.
“Someone lost their life. I don’t think anyone can necessarily celebrate over that,” Jones said of the decision to dismiss the case. “Obviously, Mr. Belt’s family is happy he’s home, but he maintained from the start he was innocent.”
Craig’s defense attorney, Phyllis Jin, could not be reached for comment Friday.
Aubele said Friday that they would pursue any new leads that came their way, although he did not appear to be optimistic that the case would be solved.
“Every case remains open and we’ll continue to keep it open and continue to investigate,” Aubele said. “If we are able to gather more evidence, we will certainly look to file or take additional steps.”