Uniontown man accused in fatal stabbing wants charges dismissed
A Uniontown man whose homicide case was delayed while he waited for a competency evaluation will appear in Fayette County Court on Monday to ask for charges against him to be dropped.
Darius “Boo” Samuel, 24, is accused of fatally stabbing Rashaunda Fitzgerald, 21, during an altercation at a bar in February 2014. He also faces charges of possession of a weapon and recklessly endangering another person.
Samuel has claimed, in a handwritten letter to the district attorney’s office, that the stabbing was an accident, and that he never meant to hurt his cousin. An attorney for Fitzgerald’s family says there was no family relationship between Samuel and Fitzgerald.
Samuel’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender David Kaiser, filed a motion in July 2014 to dismiss charges, but the hearing was delayed because Judge Steve Leskinen ordered a mental competency evaluation.
In March, the public defender’s office requested that Samuel be involuntarily committed, stating Torrance State Hospital indicated Samuel’s stay needed to be extended.
According to court documents, Samuel’s attorneys maintain that the prosecution has failed to establish that he had the necessary intent to commit homicide nor reckless endangerment.
The public defender’s office has also argued Samuel did not voluntarily and knowingly waive his right to remain silent and have counsel present when he made statements to the police in which he reportedly confessed to stabbing Fitzgerald, which he told state police was an accident.
Additionally, Samuel’s attorneys are arguing the police had no probable cause to search Samuel or the white Lincoln Navigator in which he was a passenger when police pulled the vehicle over for a traffic stop, court documents state.
According to police, the incident occurred at the Goal Post Lounge located on Morgantown Road shortly before 2 a.m. on Feb. 22, 2014.
Police said Fitzgerald tried to intervene to stop an altercation between Samuel and several others inside the bar when she was stabbed. Montaque Wilson, 21, Trenton Branch, 25, and Cornell Neal, 25, all of Uniontown, were among the other participants in the altercation, police said, and they were treated at Uniontown Hospital for non-life threatening stab wounds. Wilson was later moved to UPMC-Presbyterian in Pittsburgh for further treatment.
Samuel allegedly left the scene in the white SUV with friends following the incident, and police said a Gerber knife was found in the vehicle which was allegedly used in the stabbing.
Samuel remains in the county lockup without bond. He will appear before Leskinen on Monday at 9:30 a.m.