Canonsburg man convicted of third-degree murder in house party shooting
The Canonsburg man who claimed he was acting in self defense when he shot and killed another man during a house party in the borough last year was convicted of third-degree murder.
Kristopher Moorehouse, 21, sat motionless at the defense table as the jury foreman announced the guilty verdict Thursday afternoon on the lesser murder charge, along with one felony count of aggravated assault and five misdemeanor charges of reckless endangerment.
Moorehouse shot and killed 25-year-old Brady Paul of Canonsburg following a fistfight at the house party at 521 Giffin Ave. late on Sept. 6. Paul was shot in the chest and abdomen during the fight in the living room, and staggered outside where he died moments later on the front porch.
After the verdict was read, Moorehouse turned to his family seated in the gallery and motioned with his hand in an apparent attempt to calm them down as they became emotional. After the jury was excused, sheriff’s deputies handcuffed Moorehouse and escorted him out of the courtroom.
The jury of seven men and five women took about four hours to deliberate following the three-day trial before President Judge Valarie Costanzo at the Washington County Courthouse. She will sentence Moorehouse at 10 a.m. on Sept. 11.
During closing arguments Thursday morning, Deputy District Attorney John Friedmann said Moorehouse “brought a gun to fistfight” and called all of his actions an “adventure” that could have avoided the final outcome that left Paul dead with two bullet wounds.
“That man escalated it each and every step,” Friedmann said while pointing to Moorehouse seated at the defense table. “He made choices during this entire adventure. … Kristopher Moorehouse provoked this entire situation.”
Friedmann suggested that Moorehouse killed Paul because he felt “disrespected” about the unwanted sexual overtures the victim made to Moorehouse’s girlfriend in a phone call he made to the couple while they were having an intimate moment in their bedroom. Moorehouse came out of the bedroom and confronted Paul with a non-functioning revolver. Paul was escorted out by another person and told not to come back, but he returned a couple of minutes later and the fight ensued with Moorehouse, who grabbed a .40-caliber handgun during the tussle and shot Paul twice.
Friedmann said Moorehouse had the “intent to kill using a deadly weapon on a vital part of the body” when he fired three times in quick succession, striking Paul twice, including once in the chest.
“What happened in that bedroom, he couldn’t let it go,” Friedmann said. “He intended each and every one of those three shots. He intended to kill Brady Paul. He won’t admit that.”
Friedmann discounted Moorehouse’s explanation of what happened that night in which he testified that Brady broke through a back door and assaulted him by punching and choking him. Friedmann played a jailhouse phone conversation Moorehouse had with his mother a couple of weeks after the killing in which he told her he didn’t think self defense would work at his trial.
“Remember what Kristopher Moorehouse told you: Self defense doesn’t work,” Friedmann said. “He told you (on the stand) and he told his mom in September 2025.”
Instead, Friedmann said Moorehouse was more interested in using “buzz words” on the stand, such as citing the “fight or flight” response when being attacked. But Friedmann said Moorehouse admitted to initially not trying to defend himself from his attacker and he never attempted to leave the house despite his claims that an intruder had entered through the back door.
“He did neither of those,” Friedmann said. “In that moment, he knew what he intended to do. To kill Brady Paul.”
Defense attorney Jake Mihalov said Moorehouse acted in self defense and asked the jury first and foremost to consider the Castle Doctrine defense, which allows a person to use deadly force inside their home if an intruder enters.
“Why do we fight so much about where Kristopher Moorehouse was living? Why do we fight so much about where Brady Paul entered the house?” Mihalov said. “Because of the Castle Doctrine in Pennsylvania.”
He told the jury that if someone “unlawfully and forcefully enters the home” then the resident can take “reasonable actions” to protect themselves and their property, which he said Moorehouse did in this situation. He said even if the jury does not find that the Castle Doctrine applies in this case, then he is still entitled to self defense while being attacked by Paul.
“Kristopher Moorehouse’s actions were justified as a matter of law. We get the right as people to defend ourselves,” Mihalov said. “Mr. Moorehouse, like all of us, has the right to use reasonable force in self defense.”
Mihalov said that Moorehouse was entitled to feel safe inside the dwelling without worrying about an intruder. Mihalov noted that Paul had been escorted from the house party and another resident told him he was no longer welcome before the door was locked behind him.
“Kris was in his house. He should’ve felt safe,” Mihalov said. “And someone who wasn’t supposed to be there broke in with intent to maim and kill.”
But Friedmann questioned whether the Giffin Avenue address was ever Moorehouse’s address, pointing to the large number of people who seemingly used it as “flop house” to party and stay the night. He questioned the assertion of the Castle Doctrine by the defense, and suggested the jury dismiss it as an option.
“Was this Kristopher Moorehouse’s house? I don’t know if any of us know the answer to that,” Friedmann said. “It sounds like it was everyone’s house.”