Kyra Rohner, the attorney representing a Baker City man accused of second-degree murder in a March 20 shooting, has objected to district attorney Greg Baxter’s motion seeking to prohibit the defense from mentioning at trial details of a meeting in the Baker County Jail on March 25 between the suspect, Caleb James Mansuetti and Rohner.

A grand jury has indicted Mansuetti, 23, on multiple charges, including second-degree murder, in the death of Brandon Allen Chase, 35.

Murder is a Measure 11 crime in Oregon, with a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years on conviction.

Mansuetti is also charged with menacing, a Class A misdemeanor; pointing a firearm at another person, a misdemeanor; two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, a Class C felony; and felon in possession of a firearm, a Class C felony.

Mansuetti is scheduled to enter a plea to the charges on June 11 in Baker County Circuit Court. He was arrested March 24 and has been held without bail since.

On April 7, Baxter filed a motion asking a judge to prohibit Mansuetti’s attorney from mentioning at trial the March 25 meeting at the jail between Mansuetti and Rohner.

According to Baxter’s motion, Rohner, a public defender, asked to meet with Mansuetti in the jail library. Cameras record both audio and video in that room, according to Baxter’s motion.

“No one has listened to the recording from that meeting,” Baxter wrote.

He wrote that when he learned on March 26 that Mansuetti and Rohner had met in the library rather than in the attorney/client room, which unlike the jail has no audio or video recordings, he notified Rohner, who, according to Baxter, “initially agreed that no copies of the recording should be made and that the jail staff should just let the recording ‘write over itself’ in the coming weeks.”

Baxter wrote in his motion that later that day, Rohner filed a request seeking the computer hard drive on which the video from the March 25 meeting was saved.

Baxter wrote that “the State is concerned that the defense team is trying to create an issue out of this incident that could prejudice potential jurors. The state does not want this issue to fester or be brought up at trial. Given that it is common knowledge that the jail is a recorded location, the defense counsel specifically requested to meet with their client in the jail library, and that no member of law enforcement listened to this recording, the State does not believe that the defense should be able to benefit from this situation.”

In a May 14 response to Baxter’s motion, Rohner wrote that the motion is “premature.”

“Defense counsel only recently began receiving substantive evidence from the state,” Rohner wrote. “Without complete discovery, the State’s motion is premature in terms of deciding whether the information the State seeks to exclude would be relevant or admissible at trial.”

Rohner wrote in her response that she has “requested discovery in relation to multiple violations of Defendant’s constitutional right to counsel, including recordings made of a privileged attorney-client meeting in the Baker County Jail. None of that information has been disclosed at this time. The State’s motion should not curtail the State’s obligation to disclose details concerning the constitutional violations to Defendant and his counsel.”

A hearing has not been scheduled for a judge to hear oral arguments on Baxter’s motion.

The incident

The Baker County Major Crimes team investigated the shooting, with Baker City Police Sgt. Wayne Chastain the lead investigator, according to the probable cause affidavit Chastain wrote.

According to the Baker County Dispatch log, a 911 caller reported at 9:07 p.m. on March 20 that a man had been shot. Police found Chase in his vehicle in the 2200 block of Ohio Street, just west of David Eccles Road.

Pioneer Ambulance took Chase to Saint Alphonsus Medical Center-Baker City, and he was later flown to another hospital, according to a press release from the Baker City Police Department.

Chase was shot once in the head, according to Chastain’s affidavit. Chastain wrote that he found two empty 9 mm handgun cartridges in the middle of Ohio Street.

Chastain wrote that when he responded to the report of gunshots being fired, he found Chase’s blue 1991 Ford F-250 pickup truck on Ohio Street, with its engine running.

Chastain wrote that he interviewed several residents of the area, just east of Highway 7, who heard multiple gunshots near Ohio Street and shortly after saw a dark-colored car driving away.

Chastain wrote that he watched closed-circuit video from the Stump Dodger station at Highway 7 and David Eccles Road. The footage showed a black Cadillac driving north on Highway 7 and turning east onto Indiana Avenue at 9:06 p.m. Chastain wrote that he knows Mansuetti drives a black Cadillac.

Just after the Cadillac turned onto Indiana, Chase’s pickup truck also turned onto Indiana and drove up behind the Cadillac, and then pulling up to the driver’s side of the Cadillac. About 20 seconds later, Chastain wrote, Chase’s pickup started rolling forward. The Cadillac’s brake lights illuminated and the reverse light blinked momentarily, as though the driver had shifted into drive. The Cadillac then drove east on Ohio Street and went out of the camera’s view.

About a minute later, Chastain wrote, the Cadillac returned, driving fast and heading north on Fourth Street. The Cadillac ran the stop sign at David Eccles Road and then turned north onto Rose Street and went out of view. Chastain wrote that he knows Mansuetti lives at 1037 Rose St. Another residential camera showed a black Cadillac speeding down Rose Street at 9:07 p.m. and parking in front of 1037 Rose St.

Chastain wrote that on March 22 he interviewed a man who said he was with Mansuetti at Mansuetti’s home the night of the shooting. The man told Chastain that Mansuetti had a Glock 9 mm pistol and that they went driving around South Baker. He told Chastain that he told Mansuetti he needed to go home, and they left, with Mansuetti driving his black Cadillac.

The man said Mansuetti asked him if he wanted to do a “slide” — slang for a drive-by shooting. The man told Chastain that Mansuetti said someone driving a tan Honda had been “harassing” him, and that Mansuetti followed a tan Honda into the Stump Dodger parking lot. Chastain wrote that he confirmed that by watching the gas station video.

The man with Mansuetti told Chastain that Mansuetti continued driving and eventually noticed a blue pickup truck following them and revving its engine. The man said Mansuetti stopped the Cadillac in the middle of the street and that the pickup pulled beside the Cadillac on the driver’s side.

He told Chastain that although he couldn’t see what happened because the Cadillac’s windows are tinted, he heard Mansuetti arguing with a man and then heard a gun being cocked. The man said he heard a male voice, not Mansuetti’s, yell “wait,” immediately followed by a single gunshot.

The man told Chastain that Mansuetti fired a second shot toward the pickup, which rolled forward.

The felon in possession of a firearm charge stems from Mansuetti’s 2021 conviction for unlawful use of a weapon and menacing. Mansuetti pointed an AR-15-style rifle at a couple during what police described as a “road rage” incident July 12, 2021, in Baker City. The incident happened in the 3300 block of Birch St., according to a press release from the Baker City Police Department. Mansuetti was sentenced to 25 days in the county jail and three years of probation.