The mother of Cyrus Carmack-Belton says evidence left out of his killer’s trial could have had an impact on the outcome.
Cyrus Carmack-Belton was only 14 years old when he was shot and killed by Chieki Rick Chow in Columbia, South Carolina, in May 2023. Chow was arrested and charged with murder before being acquitted at trial last month.
Nicole Carmack, the teenager’s mother, spoke to WIS-TV about the trial’s outcome. She said it’s infuriating that some evidence, including a video of Chow attacking customers, wasn’t included at trial.
Evidence Left Out
Atlanta Black Star previously reported on the video. It shows Chow attacking a young woman or girl as other girls and his son try to intervene.
You can see Chow crashing into shelves as he struggles with the individuals. He also blocks the women from leaving, the video shows.
You can also see just how intense the confrontation was from the scattered merchandise. The women were never identified.
According to the caption, this incident happened weeks before Chow killed Carmack-Belton after chasing him down the street in the mistaken belief that the boy had shoplifted from the store.
In another incident in 2018, Chow told police he watched a man take a can of Easy-Off cleaner from a shelf, hide it under his clothes, and leave the store without paying, NBC reported.
Chow claimed he was “unsure of what happened next,” but was hit in the face, and the can fell to the ground, police said. NBC reported Chow pulled out his firearm and fired two shots at the man, 23-year-old Alexis Aguilera, as he fled.
Aguilera later pleaded guilty to a shoplifting charge. He was sentenced to 30 days or a $300 fine. It is unclear if the previous incidents were presented during the murder trial.
In the Store vs. Near the Store
Criminal defense Attorney April Sampson explained why the evidence was kept out of the trial. She was also involved in the case.
“The rules are you’re only going to talk about what happened that day,” Sampson said.
“The [videos] we’ve seen and that we know about happened at the store. By the time he pulls the gun in this one, they’re 130 yards away,” Sampson said. “For the state to have brought in these priors, they would’ve had to be exactly the same.”
Carmack argued the two incidents should have been included because it showed evidence of Chow’s previous violent encounters.
“The whole incident started at the store,” Carmack said. “Just because he didn’t shoot Cryus at the store, they chase him from the store.”
More Evidence Thrown Out
Chow’s defense team also filed a motion in 2023 for law enforcement to give Chow his computer back, arguing that they violated his Fourth Amendment rights. A judge granted the request.
The Carmack-Belton family’s attorney, Todd Rutherford, told WLTX at the time the ruling was strange.
“I’ve never seen anything like this. I’ve never seen the sheriff’s department of any other law enforcement agency told to stop searching for something they had in their custody,” he said.
“Typically, it’s when something is found on the computer that they’d want to use in court that the judge would rule and say, ‘You can’t use that because that’s outside of the bounds.’”
Despite Rutherford’s questions, both the defense and prosecution said that ruling the evidence out wouldn’t impact the trial.
It’s unclear what investigators found on Chow’s laptop, if anything.
Rutherford said the teenager’s family is preparing to file a civil lawsuit against Chow.
