Clay Beathard Stabbing: Judge Sends Case to Grand Jury for Consideration
The case against Michael Mosley, the man suspected of stabbing Clay Beathard and two other people outside of a Nashville bar on Dec. 21, is headed to a grand jury. On Tuesday (Jan. 7), a Tennessee judge ruled that there is enough evidence in the case to let the proceedings continue.
Mosley was present in General Sessions Judge Melissa Blackburn's Nashville courtroom on Tuesday as witnesses recounted the details of the fight that led to the death of Beathard and his friend, Paul Trapeni III. After hearing testimony, Blackburn upheld all three charges against Mosley -- two counts of criminal homicide and one count of attempted criminal homicide -- and the original decision to hold him without bond on the first two charges and for $5 million bond on the third charge.
Mosley was arrested on Christmas (Dec. 25), after surrendering from a vacant house, which he was at alone, on Petway Road in Cheatham County, Tenn. Police had been searching for Mosley since early on Dec. 21, after an altercation inside The Dogwood, located at 1907 Division St. in Nashville, turned physical and resulted in the deaths of 22-year-old Beathard -- the brother of country singer Tucker Beathard and son of songwriter Casey Beathard -- and his friend, 21-year-old Trapeni. A third victim, 21-year-old AJ Bethurum, another friend and high school classmate of Beathard and Trapeni who testified on Tuesday, sustained injuries to his arm and his eye.
Police originally reported that the fatal encounter began over a woman. They later explained that Mosley made an unwelcome advance toward that woman, who was a friend of the three victims, who stepped in to stop him. A verbal dispute inside The Dogwood led to a physical fight outside of the bar, during which Mosley, armed with a sharp object, stabbed Beathard, Trapeni and Bethurum.
Mosley was acting in self-defense, his lawyer, Justin Johnson, says, adding that his client is remorseful about the incident. Prosecutors, on the other hand, argue that Mosley started the fight and was the only armed participant, and, therefore, should be held responsible.
When he stabbed Beathard and his two friends, 23-year-old Mosley was out of jail on a $5,000 bond after attacking a 37-year-old woman at the Walmart on Charlotte Pike in West Nashville in December of 2018, which resulted in a felony aggravated assault charge. However, in October of that year, he was also charged with a domestic assault with bodily injury misdemeanor after a separate incident at a home in the 8000 block of Charlotte Pike.
Previously, Mosley was charged with felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon following a 2015 stabbing. In March of 2016, he was convicted of a misdemeanor crime and earned a six-month jail sentence for squirting urine on a Davidson County jail employee on Christmas in 2015. Most recently, Mosley was one of six people charged with instigating a riot at a Cheatham County jail in March of this year.
Clay Beathard is one of five children born to country music songwriter Casey Beathard and his wife Susan. In addition to his singer brother, Clay Beathard's siblings are San Francisco 49ers quarterback CJ Beathard and sisters Charly and Tatum. His grandfather, Bobby Beathard, is a Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee and former NFL general manager.
Clay Beathard graduated from Battle Ground Academy in 2017, and was playing college football at Long Island University after transferring from Iowa Western Community College, his LIU Athletics profile reports. He was a junior majoring in sports management.
"Clay was an amazing, big and soft hearted human being with an undeniable love for the Lord," reads a statement from the Beathards. "Nobody's light shined like his when he smiled. That is what we will hold in our hearts because we know he is smiling now."
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