A five-day jury trial came to an end on Friday, Feb. 2, with Whitfield Superior Court jurors finding a 38-year-old man guilty of one count of malice murder.
Defendant Christopher Napoleon Barrett II was also found guilty of one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, one count of concealing the death of another and two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon — all felony offenses.
Jurors did not find Barrett guilty of one count of felony murder and one count of armed robbery.
Barrett was accused of shooting and killing David Casler-Tyrrell, a resident of Adairsville, outside his place of employment in Whitfield County on Aug. 11, 2021.
After the fatal shooting at the Bimbo Bakery off Cleveland Highway, a bill of indictment indicates that Barrett then took control of Casler-Tyrell’s Chrysler Pacifica and drove it behind White’s Pharmacy.
Later, two co-defendants — who provided testimony during Barrett’s trial and previously pled guilty to counts of concealing the death of another — indicated they helped Barrett move the body of the victim.
Barrett was later arrested after he led police in Tennessee on a high-speed chase in the Pacifica.
Barrett was represented by attorney Jerry Moncus, while the State was represented by Conasauga Judicial Circuit District Attorney Benjamin Kenemer and Conasauga Judicial Circuit Assistant District Attorney Cory Rosenberger.
Juror selection occurred on Monday, Jan. 29.
Barrett took the witness stand himself on the afternoon of Thursday, Feb. 1.
He said that the night of the fatal shooting he was exploring nearby creeks for rocks and other artifacts.
On the witness stand, he said he spotted the victim in the Pacifica at the bakery and thought he was “following him.”
The defense and the prosecution gave closing arguments on Friday morning.
Moncus argued that Barrett acted in self-defense and was not seeking to rob Casler-Tyrrell.
“Mr. Barrett, basically, was out doing what he did, looking for items, curiosity about history, you can interpret that anyway you want to,” he told jurors. “At some point in time he approaches a car … he was wondering, basically, why was that vehicle there? He had no intent to commit any criminal misconduct.”
Moncus contended that the victim in the case pulled a firearm on Barrett first, and that his client “spontaneously reacted and fired one round.”
“This was not something that was pre-planned, that was thought about,” he continued. “It was sudden, immediate, irresistible.”
On cross-examination, Kenemer said the defendant admitted to concealing the death of the victim.
“People that conceal deaths are wanting to hide things,” Kenemer said. “He never wanted this body to be found, he wanted to avoid that car, get away from it as much as possible — he never wanted to be in this courtroom.”
Kenemer said he was not convinced by the defendant’s “self-defense” argument.
“You know what people do when they act in self-defense? They pick up the phone, call 911, ‘I just had to shoot somebody or stab somebody, whatever the facts are, and I had to defend myself,’” he said. “He had every opportunity to call 911 … and he sought to avoid detection to such a level he would crash a car at over 100 miles an hour in the state of Tennessee and get out of that car once he’s crashed it and try to flee on foot to avoid the law enforcement officers of this state and, more importantly, this country.”
Kenemer said he believed the defendant did not see the victim as a human being — but rather, a dollar sign.
“The life of David Casler-Tyrrell was taken by a person that just saw him as a cheap store,” he said to jurors. “He dehumanized him to such the level that he was just the property of him.”
Kenemer circled back to statements made by Moncus in his closing statement, in which the defense attorney contended that Barrett shot and killed the victim in self-defense.
“That’s what he said, in a murder case,” Kenemer said. “The defendant wasn’t killing time, he was seeking to try to find somebody to kill … do you really think it’s a reasonable act of any reasonable human being to kill somebody and steal their car and claim self-defense?”
Kenemer said the defendant essentially closed the State’s argument for them when Barrett stated, “I will say whatever I have to to get out of trouble” during cross-examination.
“You shouldn’t trust a word he says, not just because he’s a convicted felon,” he said. “If you really think about what the defendant’s version of the events are in this case, it is totally unbelievable.”
The trial was overseen by Conasauga Judicial Circuit Judge Scott Minter.
Following the verdict, he ruled “by a preponderance of the evidence” that Barrett had also violated his terms of probation from a prior conviction.
Minter ordered both the disposition on the probation revocation as well as the sentencing for Barrett to take place at 1 p.m. on March 8.