Categories: News

SCHENECTADY — The murder-for-hire trial involving Tarchand Lall, who is accused hiring hit men to kill one man and then another hit man to kill a witness, started on Friday.

Opening statements were heard and witnesses were called on Friday after a jury was seated on Thursday following two days of jury selection. The jury mainly heard from first responders who first arrived at the scene in November 2016 to find what they said was an already dead Charles Dembrosky.

Lall, 54, is on trial on first-degree murder charges in the death of Dembrosky, as well as second-degree criminal solicitation charges for his alleged attempt to have a potential witness killed. If convicted on the murder charge, he faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Lall, who is being represented by defense attorney Cheryl Coleman, has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors previously said that Lall faced significant financial troubles and that Dembrosky had done some work for him. They allege that Lall had taken out a $150,000 life insurance policy on Dembrosky in May 2016. Lall allegedly told investigators he did so to ensure his friend Dembrosky had a proper burial.

They believe that Lall had met ex-con Joevany Luna through a mutual acquaintance and hired him for the murder of Dembrosky.

Luna, 43, and Kyshaan Moore, who drove Luna from Delaware to Schenectady and back for the murder, were both convicted earlier this year of killing Dembrosky. They both received prison sentences.

The second charge is related to when Lall also had previously asked a fellow inmate to help him kill the witness.

In a court filing from prosecutors, Lall “told the inmate to find a way to kill the witness in a manner that would not arouse suspicious of police.” But that inmate rejected the request and later went to prosecutors, according to early prosecution filings. The inmate was not named in the court documents.

During questioning by Prosecutor Peter Willis, Capt. Marc Ciccone of the Schenectady Fire Department said they arrived to the scene around 7.a.m at the corner of Campbell Avenue and 12th Street on Nov. 19, 2016.

He said he saw Dembrowski laid out on the sidewalk leading up to his home, right before the steps that led down to a public sidewalk. They found him with a pool of blood behind his head and a puncture wound in his neck.

Ciccone said they said found no pulse and saw no activity when they hooked him up to a cardiac monitor. It forced them to call a local doctor to pronounce a time of death at the scene so they didn’t have to transport Dembrosky to the hospital, which Ciccone said was department protocol.

Police officers then arrived to the scene, including Officers Gary Relation and William Stockman. Both testified on Friday that they noticed a shell casing close to Dembrosky’s feet.

Relation said entered Dembrosky’s home and found what he said appeared to be crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia.

Both officers said they began canvassing the area looking for potential witnesses.

Coleman asked both of the officers if they had heard a report of any shots fired during their shifts that day. The officers, who worked from midnight until 8 a.m. the morning of Nov. 16, 2016, said they did not.

Robert Dashnow, a retired detective for the Schenectady Police Department who responded to the scene of Dembrosky’s death, also testified.

He testified that during Dembrosky’s autopsy a bullet was recovered.

The trial is expected to resume on Monday before Judge Matthew Sypniewski.