Allegheny County’s President Judge on Monday did not respond kindly to the public defender’s request to seal court records in an ongoing case of a man accused of stabbing a woman in 2023 and then allegedly killing another woman earlier this month.

Isreal Moseby, 19, is charged with aggravated assault in the first case and criminal homicide in the second.

A TribLive investigation showed that Moseby, who had been held in the Allegheny County Jail since his arrest for the September 2023 stabbing, was denied bond four times by Common Pleas Criminal Court Judge Edward J. Borkowski. The judge found that Moseby was not competent to stand trial because of intellectual disability.

But the judge also found that Moseby was a threat to public safety and could not be safely released.

However, last fall, the Public Defender’s Office filed another petition to have the bond modified in Orphans’ Court, along with a petition seeking to have Moseby civilly committed under mental health laws.

Following a hearing in December — at which the District Attorney’s Office was not present, as required by law — Judge Michael McCarthy granted the bond modification, allowing for Moseby to be released to an unlocked community facility.

In May, he walked away from Exceptional Home Care in Penn Hills. On June 4, Pittsburgh police said he shot and killed Samantha Howells in Crafton Heights.

Following TribLive’s request for records and comment in the case last week, the Public Defender’s Office filed a motion to prevent dissemination of records in the case, as well as a request for a gag order.

President Judge Susan Evashavik DiLucente on Monday morning had a brief hearing on the matter before denying both requests. No one from the District Attorney’s Office attended the hearing.

TribLive filed a motion to intervene in the case to stop the sealing of the records, to which Moseby’s public defender and an attorney acting as his guardian objected.

“My ward’s rights are being trampled,” said Thomas Dempsey, the guardian ad litem. “It’s a horrific thing that happened, and it’s because the system failed. But to say the press gets free rein because something horrible happened is wrong.”

He urged the court to close the proceedings to the TribLive reporter and attorney Joseph Lawrence.

“I cannot conceive of a reason why the press should be permitted to participate in a mental health proceeding,” Dempsey said.

The judge quickly cut the parties off.

“When the PD’s office files a bond modification, it’s no longer a mental health proceeding,” Evashavik DiLucente responded. “It’s a criminal proceeding and a mental health proceeding.”

Dempsey told the court that any judge can hear the bond modification.

“No,” Evashavik DiLucente responded curtly. “You’re wrong.”

To Assistant Public Defender Samantha Sridaran, the judge asked, “Can you name me a case where an Orphans’ Court judge modified bond?”

“Not to my knowledge,” Sridaran answered.

Regarding the public defender’s motion to stop the dissemination of the records, Evashavik DiLucente said, “In large part, the cat’s out of the bag.

“The court has already released redacted items from the bond proceeding.”

Dempsey objected to the release of the documents, saying to do so in a civil commitment docket is a misdemeanor crime.

He asked Evashavik DiLucente who did it.

“The court did,” she responded.

Moseby is scheduled to have a criminal court hearing regarding competency on Tuesday before Borkowski.

Sridaran said her office was going to file a gag order in that case.

“I’m concerned how the public will perceive this if this ever goes to trial,” she said.

“Were you concerned about having a bond hearing before Judge McCarthy when the district attorney and victim were not present?” Evashavik DiLucente asked.

Sridaran did not answer the question.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)