By Rick Pfeiffer
With prospective jurors waiting to be called into the courtroom, the murder trial of Darrius “D” Molson was unexpectedly delayed on Monday.
Neither prosecutors nor attorneys for Molson or his co-defendant in the case, Phillip “Country’ Holloway would comment on the reason for the adjournment granted by County Court Judge Matthew J. Murphy III.
Murphy reportedly instructed the lawyers not to reveal the reason for the delay.
Jury selection for Molson is now scheduled for April 26. That was the same date that Holloway, who is being tried separately, had been slated to go on trial.
No new trial date has set for Holloway.
Molson, 26, of the Falls and Holloway, 21, of Texas City, Texas are both charged with gunning down Deion Wood as he sat on the porch of a home in the 1900 block of Ferry Avenue in the early morning hours of June 13. Both men have pleaded not guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and a single count of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
Molson’s trial date has been changed several times and this latest delay follows a hearing Thursday where he again rejected a plea deal from prosecutors. After considering the offer, one more time, and balking at a morning hearing, Molson refused to leave his cell at the Niagara County Jail late in the afternoon and exercise his last chance to take the plea.
Holloway has confessed to shooting and killing Wood and Molson has reportedly said he doesn’t want to plead guilty to the weapons charge because, “I didn’t have a gun.”
