DUBLIN — The case against a Hayward man charged with killing a neighbor during a domestic dispute may be in troubled waters, after a judge who heard the prosecution’s case said she was “not comfortable” upholding a murder charge.
Judge Amy Sekany, presiding over the preliminary hearing for Hayward resident Shawn Moayer, further suggested that there is a “very, very real possibility” that a jury who heard the same evidence would acquit Moayer. Sekany’s decision, though, didn’t bar prosecutors from re-filing the murder case, which they promptly did after the December hearing.
“I cannot stress enough that this court was very compelled by the defense’s arguments,” Sekany said at the hearing. “And, again, it would not be a stretch of the imagination to conceive of 12 people from our community finding this to be an act of self-defense.”
Moayer, 35, is accused of fatally shooting 36-year-old Matthew Beck during an Aug. 26, 2024 argument at the Hayward apartment complex where both men lived. According to testimony at the preliminary hearing, Beck was armed with a knife and irate after his girlfriend informed him she was going to Moayer’s home to take a shower. Moayer allegedly grabbed his gun and killed Beck, then threatened Beck’s girlfriend to keep quiet.
At the preliminary hearing, Sekany found that there was enough evidence to hold Moayer to answer on a charge of dissuading Beck’s girlfriend from testifying, but balked at the murder charge, choosing instead to hold him to answer on a voluntary manslaughter count. The legal standard for preliminary hearings is probable cause, a much lower prosecutorial burden than what jurors would use at a trial.
After prosecutors re-filed the murder case, Moayer’s lawyer filed a motion to dismiss it. Judge Stuart Hing has already denied that motion, clearing the way for Moayer’s trial, but a date for that has not yet been finalized, court record show.
At the December preliminary hearing before Sekany, Beck’s girlfriend testified that after she announced her intentions with the shower, Beck became aggressive and eventually pulled a knife. When Moayer entered the conflict, Beck appeared to his girlfriend to be trying to “get a stabbing in,” she testified.
The woman, though, also said under oath that Beck was “trying to defend himself against a gun” and taunted Moayer, saying, “oh you gonna shoot me? Shoot me, (expletive),” before Moayer did, in fact, shoot him.
After the shooting, Moayer didn’t bother rendering aid to Beck, but rather took the opportunity to tell Beck’s girlfriend he’d kill her and her kids if she cooperated with police, prosecutors wrote in legal filings.
“These are not the actions or words of someone who sincerely believed he was acting in self defense and therefore had no choice but to kill,” the prosecution motion says. “Rather, they are words and actions of someone trying to cover up his crime.”
The defense argued in legal filings that Beck’s girlfriend’s testimony established that Beck had “a reputation for carrying knives, threatening others with knives, and was short tempered.”
“She further testified that, based on what she knew about Mr. Beck (and what Mr. Moayer knew about him), that Mr. Beck was surely going to stab Mr. Moayer,” the defense motion says.
Moayer is next due in court on March 11, records show.