GOSHEN – Prosecutor Nicholas Mangold opened up his 40-minute closing arguments in the trial of alleged DoorDash shooter John Reilly III on Monday in Orange County Court by looking directly at jurors and telling them: “bullets go where guns are pointed.”
Mangold was referring to the night of May 2, 2025, when Reilly shot DoorDash driver Alpha Barry, 24, after he got lost at his home on Valerie Drive in the Town of Chester while making a delivery.
“Mr. Reilly pointed his .45 caliber Glock at Alpha Barry and pulled the trigger,” said Mangold, a Senior Assistant Orange County District Attorney. “This incident is not as confusing as the defense would like you to think.”
“Mr. Barry was leaving his home, and the defendant knew this was the last chance he had to hit his mark,” Mangold later added.
Reilly, the Town of Chester’s Highway Superintendent, faces attempted murder charges, which carry a maximum sentence of 25 years, for the shooting. He was also charged with two counts of assault and eight counts of criminal possession of a weapon. Jurors are expected to begin deliberations in the case on Tuesday morning.
Reilly’s attorney, Thomas Kenniff, of the law firm Raiser, Kenniff & Lonstein, opened the closing arguments by quoting the defendant’s 12-year-old daughter on the night Barry arrived at their home.
“Daddy, there is a stranger at the door,” said Kenniff, who convinced a jury to acquit Daniel Penny of criminally negligent homicide after he used a chokehold on an agitated New York City subway rider in 2023.
During his hour-long summation, Kenniff later repeated to jurors what he said during opening arguments.
“I ask you not to compound this series of tragedies with an unjust conviction,” Kenniff said. “The state contends that Mr. Reilly acted with intent, but he was never trying to take a life. There was no intent. He didn’t go from zero to 60 (miles per hour) that night. My client isn’t prone to psychotic rage like the state wants you to believe.”
Kenniff contended that Reilly acted in fear of a home invasion and that Barry, a native of Guinea who has trouble speaking English, asked him to enter his residence to charge his iPhone 16, wearing nothing that identified him as a DoorDash driver. The prosecution denies that the victim ever asked to go into the house and contends that if Reilly was so concerned about an ambush, he should have called 911. Reilly never called 911.
Mangold also showed video of Reilly firing at Barry as he attempted to leave the scene.
“I’m not saying Mr. Reilly should have invited Mr. Barry in for tea,” Mangold said. “But his contention is so unreasonable that you should reject it. The door at Reilly’s home locks automatically. He could have called for help, while barricading himself in with his gun until the police arrived. The defendant pretends that he was in the middle of nowhere in Montana, but four law enforcement agencies could have responded, and they would have been there quick because he is an elected official.”
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