Man Charged With Fatally Stabbing Tucker Beathard’s Brother Appears in Court to Face Homicide Charges
The man who is accused of stabbing and killing Tucker Beathard's brother, Clayton Beathard, appeared in court in Nashville on Tuesday morning (Jan. 7) to face homicide charges, and a judge has decided his case will move forward to a grand jury.
Twenty-three-year-old Micheal Mosley is accused of killing 22-year-old Clayton Beathard and 21-year-old Paul Trapeni III in a brawl outside of the Dogwood Bar in downtown Nashville in the early morning hours of Dec. 21, 2019. Police responded to the scene shortly before 3AM following an argument that started inside the bar and turned into a physical confrontation after it spilled over outside.
Nashville's Tennessean newspaper reports that Beathard, Trapeni and a third man had been friends since attending high school together at Battle Ground Academy in Franklin, Tenn., a rural community just outside of Nashville. They were at the bar that night for a Christmas reunion, hanging out and catching up on graduations, new jobs and other life changes. The third friend, who has not been identified publicly, survived stab wounds he sustained in the fight with Mosley, and he took the stand on Tuesday to testify against his alleged attacker.
The brawl began after Mosley allegedly made advances toward a woman who was with the group of friends, and police say Mosley stabbed Beathard and Trapeni in the chest within seconds of the fight starting. The friend testified that he ran to help his friend as he was dying in the street, and he didn't realize that he himself had been stabbed in the eye and the arm until the bouncer told him.
Mosley fled the scene, and police apprehended him holed up at an abandoned house in a neighboring county on Christmas Day. He is charged with criminal homicide. His lawyer claims he acted in self-defense after getting into a fight with a group of men, while prosecutors argue that Mosley started the fight, that he was the only person with a weapon and should be held accountable.
General Sessions Judge Melissa Blackburn decided that the prosecution's evidence is sufficient for the case to move forward, and she sent the case to a grand jury. If the grand jury indicts Mosley, he will face a criminal trial on the homicide charges. The judge has declined to set bail, and he remains in custody as he awaits the grand jury's decision.
Clayton Beathard was a high school football star at Battle Ground Academy, and he went on to play for Long Island University. Tucker Beathard released his debut single, "Rock On," in 2016, and most recently released "Better Than Me" in 2019. Their father is famed country songwriter Casey Beathard, and their other brother is San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback C.J. Beathard.
Mosley is a convicted felon whose lengthy criminal record includes a separate stabbing in 2015 and a string of assault and burglary charges. A friend of his who was with him at the bar on Dec. 21 believes Mosley was there to help another man sell drugs.
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