GOSHEN – The DoorDash driver who was shot by Town of Chester Highway Superintendent John Reilly III last May took the stand for a full day of testimony on Tuesday in Orange County Court in Judge Craig Brown’s courtroom.
Soft-spoken and stoic, Alpha Barry, 24, testified through a French interpreter. Barry, who legally immigrated to the U.S. from Guinea in 2024, was still learning English when he got lost on Valerie Drive in Chester after the battery on his iPhone 16 died. He arrived at Reilly’s home with a bag of food, asking whether the defendant had placed the order, before being shot as he drove away.
During questioning from Senior Assistant Orange County District Attorney Nicholas Mangold, Barry said he was scared when he arrived at Reilly’s home at about 9 p.m. on May 2, 2025, because the defendant had two dogs. The victim said Reilly immediately began yelling for him “to get off his property.” Barry told Mangold that he asked Reilly to charge his phone because it was dying but never asked to enter his residence.
Reilly’s attorney, Thomas Kenniff, of the law firm Raiser, Kenniff & Lonstein, contends that Barry did ask to enter the residence. Barry, who had worked for DoorDash for about a month, said that after he returned to his car, he panicked. As a result, he had trouble driving away, shifting his vehicle from drive to reverse before hitting the horn. Mangold showed video of Reilly shooting at Barry’s car from about halfway down his front lawn with a .45-caliber Glock pistol.
One round pierced the car and struck Barry in the lower back, causing serious injuries. The victim underwent emergency surgery, during which more than two feet of his small intestine were removed. He took several months to recover. During his testimony, members of Barry’s family often became teary-eyed.
Kenniff then questioned Barry for approximately three hours. He began by asking whether Barry had been trained by DoorDash to be a driver, wore any type of uniform, or carried any identification from the company. Barry answered no to all three questions.
Kenniff also showed the court State Police photographs indicating that an iPhone 16 charger was inside Barry’s vehicle at the time of the incident. The defense attorney questioned Barry about why he did not realize his phone battery was dying and why he was unaware that the charger was in his vehicle.
“If Mr. Barry was so desperate to charge his phone when he appeared at Mr. Reilly’s door, why wouldn’t he have used the charging cord or brought it with him to my client’s door?” Kenniff said. “Moreover, if Mr. Barry had such difficulty communicating in the controlled environment of the courtroom, with the aid of a court-appointed French interpreter, common sense suggests his intentions and motivations might have been even more prone to misunderstanding when he appeared at Mr. Reilly’s doorstep in the darkness of night.”
Reilly faces attempted murder charges, which carry a maximum sentence of 25 years. He is also charged with two counts of assault and eight counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
The trial continues on Wednesday.
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