A jury Thursday acquitted an 18-year-old McKees Rocks man in a 2023 fatal shooting.
Cy-Miar Woods was 15 when he was charged with killing Michael Dean, 26, of Stowe with a single bullet fired through Dean’s front door.
Woods was arrested for homicide, as was Arrmon Hagans, 46. Authorities said Hagans was with the teenager on Nov. 22, 2023, when they went to Dean’s house to either buy marijuana or rob him, according to different versions of events provided by lawyers in the case.
Hagans cut a plea deal, drastically reducing a potential prison sentence, and testified against his co-defendant during Woods’ trial this week in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.
Hagans, like Woods, was facing a potential life sentence.
The jury deliberated for less than two hours before acquitting Woods of all counts.
Woods was also charged with attempted burglary, conspiracy, tampering with evidence and several gun offenses.
After the verdict was announced, Woods sighed heavily and loudly several times. As he left the courtroom for the final time, tears were streaming down his face, and he asked his family to pick him up from the jail.
He will likely not be released until Friday, said his lawyer, Randall McKinney.
McKinney praised the jury’s verdict.
“It’s obvious to me the jury found Mr. Hagans’ testimony to be incredible,” McKinney said. “He was a compromised witness who made an unbelievably good deal to save himself in exchange for implicating a child in his nefarious criminal activities.”
Closing argument
During his closing argument, the prosecutor said the jury didn’t have to like Hagans or even buy his story about why he and Woods were at the house in Stowe the afternoon Dean was killed.
All they have to believe, Allegheny County Assistant District Attorney Matthew Goddard told jurors Thursday morning, is Hagans’ testimony that he watched Woods raise his gun, aim it at the front door that victim Michael Dean had just slammed shut, and pull the trigger — all captured by a Ring doorbell camera.
“You have to believe Arrmon Hagans about one thing — that the other person in that video with him is Cy-Miar Woods,” Goddard said. “That’s it.”
But McKinney, in his closing argument, disagreed.
“It’s obvious this was a robbery,” McKinney said, arguing that it was one engineered by Hagans, who was also charged in the case. “And if you believe that, you can disregard everything else Arrmon Hagans told you.
“If he’s lying to you about the robbery, what else is he lying about?”
Following closing arguments Thursday, the jury began deliberations.
Drug deal gone bad
Woods, of McKees Rocks, is charged with criminal homicide and related counts in Dean’s death on Nov. 22, 2023.
His trial, before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Borkowski, began on Tuesday.
Investigators said Hagans and Woods went to Dean’s house on Benwood Avenue that day to buy marijuana. After Dean answered the door and spoke with Hagans, he slammed it shut.
Ring doorbell video showed a person wearing a mask and gloves raise a gun, point it at the door and fire one shot.
Dean, who was struck once in the head, was found by his parents a short time later.
Using license-plate tracking cameras, police identified Hagans as a suspect. He was arrested eight days later at an Extended Stay America hotel by the airport. Investigators said he had the murder weapon with him.
Hagans was charged in the homicide. Several months later, police filed a homicide count against Woods, as well. They said Hagans identified Woods as the shooter.
‘Premium weed’
During this week’s trial, Hagans, who has remained in the Allegheny County Jail, testified against Woods.
The deal he reached with the DA’s office allows him to plead guilty to tampering with evidence and two firearms counts.
He likely faces years in prison.
During Thursday’s closing, McKinney focused on Hagans’ deal, noting that the man will avoid a possible mandatory life in prison sentence as a result of his cooperation.
Hagans, McKinney said, orchestrated a robbery of Dean that day.
As Hagans, who was not wearing a mask, rang the doorbell and talked to Dean, two other males, wearing masks, hats and gloves, stood behind a wall waiting, McKinney said.
Hagans has a previous criminal record including a robbery conviction, the defense attorney continued, and knew that Dean sold “premium weed.”
“Arrmon Hagans brought masked men with hats and gloves and hoods over there to a man’s house,” McKinney said.
No forensic evidence
McKinney also focused in his closing on the lack of forensic evidence tying his client to the scene. No prints or DNA from Woods were found on the getaway car, a recovered hat or the gun, he said.
“The forensic evidence actually exonerates him,” McKinney said.
He urged the jury to find reasonable doubt.
“Is there anything about this case that gives you pause?” he asked. “I submit that there’s probably a dozen things.”
But Goddard, the prosecutor, told the jury that McKinney’s focus on Hagans in his closing was meant as a distraction.
“You can’t change the facts, so you’ve got to change the focus,” he said.
The facts, Goddard said, are that Hagans is visible on the Ring doorbell camera at Dean’s house that day, and that video shows that it was a different person who fired the gun.
“I’m sure Arrmon Hagans got some of it wrong,” Goddard said. “He remembers who shot Michael Dean.”
Appropriate deal
The prosecutor also pointed out one specific part of the video. After the shooting, as the men are fleeing from the porch, a person can be heard cursing and questioning what just happened.
“Some things have remained consistent with this story,” Goddard said. “(Hagans) had nothing to do with the murder of Michael Dean. Immediately, Arrmon Hagans is saying: ‘What just happened? What did you do?’
“He didn’t go there to murder Michael Dean.”
The prosecutor also reminded the jury that there were phone calls among Woods, his brother and Hagans on the day of the shooting — showing that they knew each other — as well as text messages between Woods’ mother and Hagans.
Goddard said that the deal his office reached with Hagans is appropriate, given his actions that day.
“He didn’t go there to murder Michael Dean, but he did take the firearm,” Goddard said.
He urged the jury to find Woods guilty.
“The real question of this case is whether it is first-degree murder or third-degree murder,” Goddard said.
