Rick Chow trial opens with murder charge over 2023 shooting
rick chow sat at the defense table Wednesday as a South Carolina jury heard opening statements in his murder trial over the 2023 fatal shooting of 14-year-old Cyrus Carmack-Belton. Prosecutors told jurors the case turns on a May 28, 2023, chase in Columbia that ended with a shot to the back.
Byron E. Gipson Opening
Prosecutor Byron E. Gipson told jurors, “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, what is the value of a human life?” He added, “To grieving parents who lost a 14-year-old to senseless acts of violence, a human life is priceless.”
Gipson said Chow believed Carmack-Belton had stolen four bottles of water from the gas station convenience store. He told jurors, “But on May 28, 2023, Chikei Rick Chow, the defendant in this case, determined that Cyrus Carmack-Belton’s life was worth less than four bottles of water.”
Jack Swerling Defense
Defense lawyer Jack Swerling said Carmack-Belton pointed a pistol at Chow’s son, Andy, and that Chow fired one shot in defense of his son. “If he didn’t have that weapon, he never would have had a weapon to draw on Andy Chow,” Swerling said.
Swerling also told jurors, “Nobody’s saying everybody’s happy about this, but unfortunately there are occasions in human life when someone has to exercise that right of self-defense or defense of others.” He added, “It’s sad. It’s tragic. There’s no question about that.”
Columbia Shooting Aftermath
After the shooting, Chow performed CPR on Carmack-Belton. Police records showed Chow had shot at shoplifters twice in the past eight years and did not face charges after those incidents.
Chow sat between his lawyers wearing a dark suit, a white-collared shirt and no tie, with his legs shackled. Protesters came to his store the day after the shooting demanding justice and saying Chow mistreated Black customers, and prosecutors said the killing sent waves of anguish and grief through the African American community in Richland County.
The trial now turns on competing accounts of the same encounter: prosecutors say Chow shot Carmack-Belton in the back during a foot chase in Columbia, while the defense says the teenager had pointed a pistol at Andy Chow. The jury will have to weigh those versions against the physical sequence that began with the chase and ended with a death.
