Trial starting in 2016 Jefferson Hills businessman's homicide

The trial for a Sacramento, Calif., man accused in the 2016 of killing a popular Jefferson Hills businessman has started in Allegheny County court.

Derrick “Chino” Gallaway, 63, is charged with homicide, robbery, theft and tampering with evidence in the May 2016 homicide of Denhad “Chief” Taiedi at the Jefferson Hills Motel on Route 51.

Gallaway is represented by Pittsburgh attorney Elbert Gray, who didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment. The jury trial is before Judge Mark Tranquilli.

Taiedi, who owned the Jefferson Hills Motel and also worked as its night clerk, was found shot to death on May 27, 2016, in the motel office.

Hair samples taken from the scene matched Gallaway’s DNA, which was in a California database, according to police. Two witnesses told police they used methamphetamine with Gallaway in one of the hotel’s rooms and said he tried to enlist them in a plot to rob Taiedi, according to a criminal complaint filed in the homicide.

Gallaway was charged in August 2016 but wasn’t arrested until November 2017, when he was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals in Sacramento.

Taiedi, the son of a retired Iranian general who came to the United States more than 50 years ago, owned nightclubs in Washington, D.C., and a dry-cleaning business in Pittsburgh.

Taiedi and his wife, Linda, bought the motel in 2001. They also owned the Baldwin nightclub Someplace Else and Saddlebrook Stables in South Park.

Taiedi’s wife died in 2013.

Taiedi was called “The Rockfather” by musicians who performed at his Baldwin nightclub, and they described him as a generous man.