Chester Highway Superintendent John Reilly's DoorDash Shooting Trial Set for March

Chester Highway Superintendent John Reilly is scheduled to stand trial March 13, 2026, on a 13-count indictment accusing him of shooting a DoorDash delivery driver outside his Valerie Drive home last spring. The charges include second-degree attempted murder, assault with depraved indifference and weapons offenses; Reilly has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors say the victim, Alpha Oumar Barry, was an unarmed DoorDash driver who was shot in the stomach while getting into his car in Reilly’s driveway on May 2, 2025. “Assistant Orange County District Attorney Nicholas Mangold alleges that on the evening of May 2, an unarmed Barry approached the front door of Reilly’s home carrying a bag of food and asked if Reilly had made the order. Barry, Mangold said, was lost and driving with a dead cell phone battery.”

The indictment against John Reilly contains 13 counts; court records and public filings list the major charges but do not supply the full count sheet in the material available to date. Reilly entered a not guilty plea following his arrest and remains scheduled for trial in Orange County Court next month.

The case presents an additional procedural layer: Reilly’s wife, Selina Nelson-Reilly, was arraigned Oct. 29 on charges that she deleted 17 videos from a smart doorbell camera after the shooting. Prosecutors charged Selina Nelson-Reilly with hindering prosecution and 17 counts of tampering with physical evidence. She pleaded not guilty and is due back in court Feb. 2. “According to court records, she is represented by White Plains attorney Andrew Jason Proto who did not respond to a request for comment.”

Town officials have been drawn into the controversy. “Reilly continues in his role as head of highway for the Town of Chester. Holdridge and others called for Reilly to resign last spring after he was charged in the shooting,” Chester Town Supervisor Brandon Holdridge said. Reilly remains in his municipal post and is listed as up for re-election in 2027, though it is unclear whether he will run.

The alleged facts and the municipal status of a charged official make the trial significant for residents who rely on local government to manage roads, public safety and trust in civic institutions. The presence of alleged evidence deletion also raises questions about evidence preservation and chain of custody that prosecutors are likely to emphasize at trial.

The Reilly case is one of several recent incidents nationally involving people who worked as delivery drivers that led to deadly or violent encounters. Separately, a defendant accused in a Walla Walla fatal shooting has a pre-trial date in February and a March trial date, and a Michigan defendant was sentenced to 37.5–80 years last year after a fatal March 9, 2025, shooting of a DoorDash driver. Those matters are distinct from the Chester case but add broader context to how violent encounters involving delivery workers are being prosecuted.

For Chester residents, the March 13 trial and the Feb. 2 hearing in Nelson-Reilly’s case are the next concrete steps. The proceedings will determine criminal liability, and they will also shape local debate about municipal accountability, workplace safety for delivery drivers and oversight of elected and appointed officials.