Isreal Moseby, 19, has multiple issues to face in court. There are charges of stabbing a woman in the neck and dragging her around her home in 2023. There are charges related to the June 4 death of Samantha Howells, 53, in Crafton Heights.

As terrible as those crimes are, they are the kind of thing courts deal with every day. Courts were built to address the legal puzzles of violence, law and justice.

What is harder to handle is when the system is skirted.

Moseby was not supposed to be in Crafton Heights on June 4. He was supposed to be at Exceptional Home Care in Penn Hills. Judge Michael McCarthy of Allegheny County Orphans’ Court heard arguments Dec. 18. Moseby was released there in January.

Months later, he walked away from the unlocked facility. A warrant was issued for his arrest May 6; 29 days later, Howells was killed.

How did this happen? Because Moseby never should have been at Exceptional Home Care.

In a series of hearings and court appearances, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Borkowski repeatedly denied bond for Moseby. He reviewed “repeated acts of violence.” He heard testimony both to Moseby’s intellectual disability — which was making him not competent to stand trial — and his mental health.

Borkowski tried to commit Moseby to Torrance State Hospital, but the hospital said they couldn’t take him. Mental health commitments generally seek to stabilize a patient’s condition to allow trial. Torrance said that wasn’t possible with Moseby.

So Assistant Public Defender Samantha Sridaran tried another path. She took the case to Orphans’ Court, where she got the outcome she wanted.

In Pennsylvania, there are multiple interlocking rings of court: district courts, courts of common pleas, appeals courts. But there are others that are quieter. There is juvenile court, which addresses criminal issues with minors and is conducted behind closed doors because of the age of the subject. There is also Orphans’ Court.

Orphans’ Court, despite the name, does not deal exclusively with parentless children. It handles the sensitive issues where life intersects with law, like adoptions, estates and guardianships. Moseby sits at the intersection of multiple courts.

Lawyers may often navigate multiple courts on their clients’ behalf. The problem here is Sridaran didn’t like the answer she got from one judge, so she went to another. Some might call this court shopping, but that’s not quite right. Court shopping is looking for the best judge to hear a case. This was more like playing divorced parents against one another on the hopes they wouldn’t communicate.

They didn’t.

On Monday and Tuesday, Sridaran faced stern judges — Borkowski and President Judge Susan Evashavik DiLucente — in hearings surrounding the case. Borkowski was once again looking at competency evaluations for Moseby and a gag order. DiLucente was ruling on a motion to seal records, filed by the Public Defender’s Office. TribLive filed a motion to intervene and the judge agreed the case was criminal and should remain open.

This case needs to stay visible because it shows the danger of obstructing the flow of information. Courts can compartmentalize, especially when one judge is hearing one part and another ruling on a separate issue.

It isn’t just a bureaucratic nightmare. For Howells, it was a real-life horror story.

And while many may find it hard to empathize with Moseby given the nature of the case and his history, it’s important to note that circumventing Borkowski’s opposition to bond did him no good either.

In November, Moseby was facing two problems: the criminal case for his assault charges and finding an appropriate placement for his mental health needs and the safety of the public. Today, thanks to legal machinations, he is facing homicide charges.

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