DA Says Gas Station Owner Murdered South Carolina Teen Over Bottled Water — Opening Statement

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[00:00:02]Please be seated.

[00:00:03]Yes, Mr. Wilson.

[00:00:05]Counsel, Mr. Spann, Mr. Cella, Mr. Waring.

[00:00:09]Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, what is the value of a human life?

[00:00:17]To grieving parents who lost a 14-year-old to senseless acts of violence, a human life is priceless.

[00:00:27]But on May 28th, 2023, Cha Ke Rick Chao, the defendant in this case, determined that Cyrus Carmack Belton's life was worth less than four bottles of water.

[00:00:45]I say this because in May of 2023, Cha Ke Rick Chao, the defendant in this case, was the owner of a convenience store and gas station on the corner of Park Lane and Spring Tree here in Columbia.

[00:00:59]His wife was working that evening. She was a co-owner. And their adult son was working there as well that particular evening.

[00:01:07]It was around 8:00 or so p.m.

[00:01:10]that Cyrus Carmack Belton, a 14-year-old, walked into that store.

[00:01:15]And he had on a red hoodie with a small pocket in the front.

[00:01:19]He was carrying a black backpack.

[00:01:22]We know this to be true because the defendant in this case, Cha Ke Rick Chao, had an intricate camera system that captured almost every interaction within that store in multiple camera angles.

[00:01:36]He also had camera angles outside of the store on the premises of the store and immediately adjacent to the store so you could see what happened at the beginning of Spring Tree as his property ended.

[00:01:47]So, Cyrus walked into that store, red hoodie, small pocket in the front, black backpack.

[00:01:52]And he walks in and he immediately is asked by the co-owner, Alice Cho, to remove his backpack.

[00:01:59]That's store policy.

[00:02:01]Cyrus complies, does exactly what he's asked to do.

[00:02:06]He puts that backpack on the cooler and begins to walk around and browse throughout the store.

[00:02:13]He goes aisle to aisle browsing, looking around, looking at the candy, looking at water, looking at other things in the store.

[00:02:20]And Alice is directly behind him watching everything that he does.

[00:02:27]When he walks to the front of the store, she watches. When he walks to the side of the store, she watches.

[00:02:33]She leans against post and watches everything that he's doing as he walks through that store.

[00:02:40]Their adult son, Andy, is working the counter.

[00:02:42]And he's watching as well.

[00:02:44]And as other customers come in and walk to to to buy things, he'll service them and continue to watch Cyrus as he walks through the store.

[00:02:52]Finally, Cyrus walks to that back right corner of the store. And again, we know this to be true because of that intricate camera system that Mr. Cho installed.

[00:03:01]He walks to the back.

[00:03:03]He opens a water cooler, leans the water cooler against his right shoulder his left shoulder, and takes out four bottles of water.

[00:03:10]One, two, three, and four.

[00:03:14]And after a second, he pauses and methodically puts all four water bottles back into that cooler.

[00:03:22]One, two, three, and four.

[00:03:26]He closes the cooler and begins to walk back towards the front of the store.

[00:03:32]And it's that point that the verbal confrontation begins.

[00:03:38]And I say confrontation because Cyrus said nothing.

[00:03:42]The co-owner of the store, Alice Cho, asked if he needed help and eventually accused him of stealing water.

[00:03:49]Told him to empty his pockets.

[00:03:51]The adult son, Andy who is watching said the same thing, "You took some water. Give us the back the water."

[00:03:58]Syrus said, "I took nothing. I didn't take anything.

[00:04:02]I didn't take anything."

[00:04:04]And they continued to verbally attack him, accusing him of stealing water.

[00:04:11]Interestingly enough, you look at that intricate camera system, Syrus telling the truth.

[00:04:19]He took nothing from that store that day.

[00:04:23]As he tried to walk out of the store, they continued to verbally harass him to the point where he took his backpack and calmly walked out of the store. Again, we know that to be true because of that intricate camera system that Chaiquiri Ritchard stole.

[00:04:39]And as he walks toward that door, the co-owner Alice Chai says something in Cantonese that makes her son run around the counter towards Syrus.

[00:04:52]And then Chaiquiri Ritchard, the defendant in this case, comes from out of an office in the convenience store armed with a.45 caliber Glock pistol and follows Syrus out of that store.

[00:05:05]Syrus walks out of the store, takes a right slowly and hears them yelling, running after him.

[00:05:14]Turns to see and again, the camera system shows these things, and he takes off running.

[00:05:21]Syrus tries to run through the parking lot to the point to where he runs out of his Air Force One Nike shoe.

[00:05:29]Runs out of his shoe.

[00:05:31]Doesn't turn around to pick it up because you have an adult male running behind you with a.45 caliber Glock pistol who has falsely accused you of stealing.

[00:05:42]So, he runs.

[00:05:44]He drops two cell phones out of his pocket.

[00:05:46]We know this to be true because there are witnesses who we expect you'll hear from who will talk about how they had to throw on brakes to keep from hitting them as they ran across traffic.

[00:05:58]We know this to be true because of that intricate camera system that he installed.

[00:06:04]He drops two cell phones. One belonged to him, one to his mother.

[00:06:08]Doesn't turn around to pick up one of those cell phones.

[00:06:15]Continues to run, falls down, gets back up running, falls again, busts his shin, drops the backpack, keeps running.

[00:06:24]In total, Shaquille Richardson and son chased Cyrus Carmack Belton over 130 yards off of their property onto a public road in Columbia, South Carolina.

[00:06:40]And eventually, after Cyrus fell a couple of times, Shaquille Richardson fired the fatal shot which ended his life.

[00:06:50]Folks, 130 yards is a football field.

[00:06:58]Now, in fact, it's a football field goal post to goal post plus 10 yards.

[00:07:10]Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I'm Byron Gibson, the Fifth Judicial Circuit Solicitor.

[00:07:16]And I, along with Dale Scott, Stephanie Taylor, and the Weston Leeper, represent the state of South Carolina.

[00:07:24]So, for the next few minutes, I'm going to give you a little bit more of a road map of what this case entails, what our position is in this case, and what we believe we can prove, as well as give you an idea of what to expect from the court and how this proceeding will run for the next several days.

[00:07:43]Now, I mentioned to you a moment ago that when Cyrus walked into that store, he was wearing a red hoodie with a pocket in the front, black backpack.

[00:07:54]Unbeknownst to the Chao family, to Cha Ke Rick Chao, to Alice Chao, or to Andy Chao, he had a pistol in the front pocket of that hoodie.

[00:08:06]Unbeknownst, they didn't know.

[00:08:10]We know that to be true because that video will confirm all of those things.

[00:08:14]Confirm that he walked around the store, had a conversation with them. At no point did he ever threaten them. At no point did he ever curse them when he was being falsely accused. He didn't spit on them. He never attacked them. He calmly walked through the store and calmly denied stealing anything from that store, which again was true.

[00:08:35]The truth in this case is that Cyrus did what you'd expect an adult to do in that case. He walked away.

[00:08:43]He tried to create distance every time he was confronted.

[00:08:48]But for some reason, Cha Ke Rick Chao wouldn't believe him.

[00:08:53]He couldn't believe him for some reason.

[00:08:56]Although the evidence will show that he took nothing from that store.

[00:09:00]The evidence will show that after they chased him out of his shoe, dropping phones around down Spring Tree Road, after he tripped over curb, fell, dropped his backpack, we believe that gun spilled out of that pocket.

[00:09:16]And within moments after that gun spilled out of that pocket, that man shot Syrus Carmack Belton in the back with a.45 caliber pistol.

[00:09:32]Now, we believe evidence will show that soon after EMS and others came on the scene.

[00:09:44]Chucky Ricch tried to say I was defending my son.

[00:09:48]But the interesting thing about this process is that you're going to have an opportunity at the end of this case that you've heard all of the evidence from this witness here to assess what you've learned and what you've heard.

[00:10:02]You get a chance to assess that and I'll ask as you start asking those questions that bounce around in your head.

[00:10:08]In what world do you get to falsely accuse a 14-year-old of stealing, chase a 14-year-old 130-plus yards down the road while you're armed with a pistol, shoot that person in the back, then claim you're defending your son?

[00:10:26]Folks, it's for that senseless act, for that ridiculous act, for that heinous act, that Chucky Ricch, the child, the defendant in this case, has been charged and indicted with the crime of murder.

[00:10:44]And it's a It's for that crime that we, the prosecution, Dale Scott, Stephanie Taylor, and Weston Leifer, will be asking that you return a verdict of guilty at the appropriate time.

[00:10:57]Now, as prosecutors, we have something that's called the burden of proof.

[00:11:04]And >> [clears throat] >> what that means is we have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Chucky Ricch murdered Cyrus Carmack Melton.

[00:11:15]Now, reasonable doubt in South Carolina, we our courts have defined it a couple of ways and I'll explain those to you.

[00:11:22]Reasonable doubt is the amount of doubt that causes a reasonable person to hesitate to act. The amount of doubt that causes a reasonable person to hesitate to act.

[00:11:30]There's an alternative definition that says [clears throat] that if you are firmly convinced of a defendant's guilt then at that point they are guilty of crime. But that's for you all as the jurors to decide.

[00:11:41]Now, as was mentioned a little a few moments ago, Judge Taylor is the judge of the law.

[00:11:46]And you've got to take the law as he gives it to you. So, at the appropriate time he'll advise you of the definition of reasonable doubt and every other legal standard and every other thing about the law that you're going to need to know. He'll advise you of those things at the end of the case at the appropriate time.

[00:12:01]But the cool thing about this process, just as he said, is that it's Judge Taylor is the judge of the law.

[00:12:07]You guys are the judges of the facts.

[00:12:09]And you get to determine based on what you hear from this witness chair and the evidence that you observe, you get to determine what actually happened in this case.

[00:12:20]So, you're probably asking, you know, all right, well, how am I supposed to do something like that? How am I judging people about, you know, as as a witness?

[00:12:28]I suggest to you that just as you are judging my credibility and believability right now, that's a skill that you've developed over all these years that you've been walking this earth.

[00:12:39]I suggest to you that when you parked your cars this morning, you didn't leave your common sense in the parking lot.

[00:12:45]That's what you're using to assess credibility and believability.

[00:12:50]And that's what you'll be doing with each of the witnesses that comes up here.

[00:12:53]You'll judge that. You'll talk You'll You'll have an opportunity to determine if they had motive to say what they say.

[00:12:58]If they had If they could observe the actual things that they're saying they observe. They have some reason to change or or to or to try to tell a story in a way that's going to help them. You'll get a chance to make those determinations at the appropriate time.

[00:13:12]And we'll ask that you do that.

[00:13:16]A couple moments ago each of you guys took an oath to well and truly tra- try the facts of this case.

[00:13:23]And what that essentially means is that >> [clears throat] >> you got to try the facts of this case, not some stuff that you may have heard out there, not some preconceived notions, not some ideas that you may have, but from the evidence that you hear in this jury room this week in this case.

[00:13:40]That's what you got to do.

[00:13:43]Folks, I ask that you resist the urge to turn this trial into some type of commentary about youth and guns cuz it's not about them.

[00:13:56]It's about a grown man who falsely accused a 14-year-old of stealing, chased him down the road while armed with a pistol, shot him in the back, and then claimed he's defending his son.

[00:14:09]That's what this case is about.

[00:14:11]And ultimately, those are the decisions that you'll have to make at the end of this case.

[00:14:16]Now, I expect that you're going to hear from several different types of witnesses this week.

[00:14:20]Some are going to be what we call lay witnesses, just people who just happened to be driving up and down the street through Grove Park that day.

[00:14:26]Folks who saw what happened, folks who watched the child chase Ahmaud Arbery across the street and shoot and kill him.

[00:14:34]We expect they'll have different vantage points, seeing things in different ways, but you'll have an opportunity to listen to them and assess what they saw.

[00:14:41]You'll hear from law enforcement, first responders, people who saw what happened and and talked to witnesses out there on the street immediately after it happened. Some body cam, meaning the body cameras that they're wearing when they're talking. You'll see some of those things.

[00:14:55]Take that information.

[00:14:56]You'll also have an opportunity to hear from a few experts.

[00:15:00]And the judge will explain to you what experts are and what expert testimony is and how you weigh expert testimony.

[00:15:06]Again, take the laws he gives it to you.

[00:15:09]And take the law from experts and determine if they have the ability to testify about the things that they say that they know, how they came upon this information, and if this information was paid for, ask yourselves those questions at the appropriate time.

[00:15:29]Now, folks, you're going to hear about three types of evidence. I'm wrapping this thing up.

[00:15:35]I don't want y'all to get sick of me this early in the morning.

[00:15:38]There are going to be three types of evidence you're going to hear about. One is direct evidence, second is circumstantial, third is stipulations.

[00:15:45]Direct evidence is evidence that you can see, that you can touch, that you can feel, sometimes even smell.

[00:15:50]Circumstantial evidence is evidence that you can infer exists based on a series of facts.

[00:15:56]All right? Evidence that you can infer exists based on a series of facts.

[00:16:00]So, example, we're sitting in here, South Carolina it's probably going to be 80 90° with 100% humidity.

[00:16:06]If you walk out here at lunchtime and you see snow outside, it's 12° outside, you see icicles hanging off of the different uh the posts and all that kind of stuff. You see a snow plow going through here. You see penguin tracks and maybe a polar bear walk by. You were in this room with no windows all day, but you can infer that it snowed because you see all of the evidence of snow.

[00:16:32]That's circumstantial evidence. It's just as good as direct evidence if you the jury determine that you believe that that's what took place.

[00:16:41]So, direct evidence, circumstantial evidence, and last we'll talk about stipulations. Stipulations are agreements between our table the state and that table with the defense team. There are stipulations, that means we have an agreement that a particular fact exists.

[00:16:56]And if we have that agreement and we alert judge that that agreement exists, then judge will have the opportunity to explain to you that that's not a fact that you have that you guys have to haggle about or even argue about because we agree that it's the truth.

[00:17:08]So, direct, uh circumstantial, stipulations. Those are the three types of evidence we'll be talking about.

[00:17:15]And at the appropriate time you'll have a chance to look at the facts of the case and with the evidence, you compare that to the evidence and return a verdict that speaks the truth in this case.

[00:17:29]Now, my final ask of you is this.

[00:17:34]There's an 11th century philosopher named Omar Khayyam.

[00:17:40]And one thing that he wrote back then was the moving finger writes and having writ moves on.

[00:17:47]Nor all your piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line, nor all your tears wash out a word of it.

[00:17:57]Now, I know y'all are looking at me kind of like, what is this dude quoting some 11th century philosophy for?

[00:18:04]I'll tell you that at the end of this case, I will explain to you why something written back in the 11 and 1200s rings so true today in this courtroom in 2026 about a case where that man murdered a 14-year-old in 2023.

[00:18:25]So, folks, remember what we've talked about and ask yourselves one last question.

[00:18:33]What is the value of a human life?

[00:18:38]Thank you.