Allegheny County Controller Chelsa Wagner to stand trial again on Detroit charge

Allegheny County Controller Chelsa Wagner will go to trial again in Detroit next year on a charge of obstruction during a March 2019 incident at a hotel with her husband, according to the Wayne County prosecutor’s office.

A Detroit jury last month found Wagner not guilty of disturbing the peace but deadlocked on the felony charge.

Jurors deliberated for about six hours over two days before reaching the verdict on the disturbing the peace charge but could not reach a consensus on the obstruction charge. The jury consisted of nine women and three men.

Wagner’s husband, Khari Mosley, was found not guilty of disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace during a trial in July.

Wagner was accused of interfering with Detroit police March 6 as they prepared to remove her husband from the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel after staff said he was being unruly. The couple were in Detroit for a concert.

A trial for the obstruction charge is set for April 20 in Wayne County, prosecutors said. A motions hearing is scheduled for March 20, and Wagner must appear in person.

The trial date was set during a hearing Friday morning via video conference, according to Wagner’s defense team.

Prosecutors offered Wagner a plea deal but her attorney declined, according to a spokeswoman for Wagner.

On the night of the incident, hotel staff called 911 to report that Mosley was being disruptive. When officers arrived, they put Mosley into a squad car before going to Wagner’s room to verify Mosley’s claim that he was a guest, despite his name not being on the hotel registry.

During three days of testimony last month, Wagner’s attorneys Charles Longstreet and Kevin Mincey argued that she was the victim of overzealous police who barged into her hotel room. They said her civil rights were violated when they slammed her to the ground.

Assistant Wayne County prosecutor Erika Tursar insisted Wagner obstructed police officers and acted like an entitled politician who “doesn’t think the rules apply to her.” Tursar argued that Wagner “pulled the ‘do-you-know-who-I-am?’ card” when she told the police she was the highest-ranking elected official in her county.