Jun 10, 2026 By Mike Jones 5 min read

A Washington County jury will have to decide whether a Canonsburg man acted with malice or in self-defense when he shot and killed an acquaintance who made unwanted advances on his girlfriend at a house party in the borough last year.

Opening statements began Tuesday in Kristopher Moorehouse’s trial on homicide charges in connection with the Sept. 6 killing of 25-year-old Brady Hugh Paul during the party at 521 Giffin Ave.

Deputy District Attorney John Friedmann argued to the jury the defendant intended to kill Paul and that he did so with malice after the victim made a phone call to Moorehouse’s girlfriend, Gianna Abajace, asking to join in on the intimate moment they were having in a back bedroom in the house. The two men got into an argument that turned physical, and Friedmann said Moorehouse escalated it by shooting Paul in the chest and abdomen, leaving him with fatal injuries that he would succumb to moments later.

“This was not an accident, nor in any other way was it excuseable,” Friedmann said. “This was a fistfight. Kristopher Moorehouse brought a gun to a fistfight.”

But Moorehouse’s defense attorney, Jake Mihalov, suggested that his client acted in self-defense after Paul was ushered from the party following an earlier argument the two men had, only to return a few minutes later and barge through the door.

“We are here because Mr. Moorehouse was attacked. He was attacked violently by an intruder,” Mihalov said of Paul’s decision to return to the house party despite being escorted out. “In that moment, it was life or death. It was him or me.”

Mihalov also told the jury that Moorehouse, 21, will testify to tell his side of the story of what happened in that house party.

“You will hear from Mr. Moorehouse because this isn’t the whole story,” Mihalov said.

During the first day of testimony, Deangelo Perkins, who lived in the house and was a mutual friend of both men, said a group of people were partying in the living room and having a good time when Moorehouse and Abajace retreated to the bedroom they were staying in. Paul apparently called Abajace asking if he could have sex with her or join in on their intimate moment, which prompted Moorehouse to come out of the bedroom and confront him.

“He was upset. Brady had said something about messing around with Gia,” Perkins recalled. “Something about him trying to (expletive) his (girlfriend).”

The argument started in the kitchen but spilled into the nearby living room, where Moorehouse grabbed a non-functioning revolver sitting on a TV stand and held it in his hand and threatened to “pop” Paul while they exchanged words, Perkins said. Knowing the revolver did not work, Perkins got between the two and decided it was time for Paul to leave, so he walked him out the back entrance and locked the door behind him.

“You’re not allowed to be in the house,” Perkins told Paul. “You have to go.”

Mihalov noted that Perkins allowed Moorehouse to remain at the party because he “stayed there” occasionally at the house and had a bedroom with clothes in it. Paul, on the other hand, was no longer welcome to stay and told to go home.

“Mr. Paul knew he was not welcome there?” Mihalov asked.

“Yes,” Perkins said.

After kicking Paul out of the gathering, Perkins then helped another partygoer upstairs to use the bathroom and came back down to the sounds of “tussling” in the living room before hearing a “bang” followed by two more gunshots. Paul was shot near his right clavicle and across his abdomen with a Glock semi-automatic pistol, which was left at the scene along with the non-functioning revolver.

During testimony at Moorehouse’s preliminary hearing in October, Perkins said he saw Paul on top of the defendant, who was seated in a chair when the first shot was fired, but he testified Tuesday that he did not remember seeing how they were positioned when the gunshots rang out.

Perkins said he “crossed paths” in the living room with Paul, who staggered to the front door and died a few moments later on the front porch.

“I looked at him,” Perkins said. “I could tell he was dying.”

Perkins left the house in a car with Abajace and two others, and they saw Moorehouse trying to leave the scene. Moorehouse wanted to get into the car, but Perkins refused to let him because of what had just happened.

Abajace later drove Moorehouse to stay with relatives in Parkersburg, W.Va., but he returned to Canonsburg and turned himself in to police two days after the shooting. He is facing felony charges of homicide and aggravated assault, along with four counts of reckless endangerment.

Friedmann said Moorehouse escalated the situation following the initial argument, which led to the killing.

“If the situation stopped right there, we wouldn’t be here,” Friedmann said.

Mihalov said Moorehouse did what he had to do to defend himself by someone who entered the house through a locked door.

“He wasn’t the aggressor. He was attacked by an intruder, and he defended himself,” Mihalov said. “He wanted to repel the threat in that moment. He chose survival.”

Moorehouse, who is being held at the Washington County jail without bond, wore a dark suit and was unshackled as he walked freely to and from the courtroom under the close supervision of sheriff’s deputies. Testimony is expected to continue this morning at the Washington County Courthouse, with Moorehouse possibly taking the stand in his own defense later today.