A jury on Thursday acquitted a man of murder and all other charges in the killing of his mother, who was caught in the crossfire as he and her ex-boyfriend exchanged more than three dozen shots in an Apple Valley neighborhood nearly three years ago.
Dakota County jurors deliberated for about eight hours across two days before finding Billy Joe Pryor Jr. not guilty of second-degree intentional murder and four other charges in the death of 49-year-old Michelle McGill outside her home on July 10, 2022.
The verdict followed a four-day trial in which jurors saw video from a garage-mounted surveillance camera that captured part of the shootout in the 900 block of Oriole Drive, located just south of County Road 42 and east of Garden View Drive.
McGill was sitting in her car in her driveway when Pryor and Willie John Selmon argued, then engaged in a gun battle in which 38 bullets were fired in less than a minute. McGill suffered 10 gunshot wounds, while Selmon was shot in the face and Pryor took two bullets to the stomach.
“The two men responsible, the two men shooting with a fervor to kill each other, both walked away, while Michelle McGill did not,” Assistant Dakota County Attorney Evan Frazier said Wednesday in the state’s closing arguments. “Her last moments were spent caught in the crossfire between Mr. Selmon and the defendant.”
Selmon, 42, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder by drive-by shooting in June and three months later was sentenced to 10 years in prison, a downward departure from state sentencing guidelines. A second-degree intentional murder charge was dismissed as part of plea deal.
Willie John Selmon (Courtesy of the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office)
Selmon testified as a state witness during Pryor’s trial, telling jurors that Pryor fired first.
Pryor, 28, took the stand in his own defense, testifying that Selmon shot first.
Based on the jury instructions, the state had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Pryor did not act in self-defense or defense of others, his attorney, assistant public defender Sean Rinehart, said in his closing argument.
“If you think it’s reasonably possible that Mr. Selmon shot first, you have to find Mr. Pryor not guilty,” Rinehart said.
If Pryor did not shoot first, then “no single shot that he fired was illegal,” said Rinehart, who tried the case with colleague Gregory Sofio. “In these circumstances, he did not have a duty to retreat.”
Frazier argued that Pryor’s claim of self-defense and defense of others does not apply in the case because “the evidence shows beyond a reasonable doubt that (he) was the aggressor, the instigator of this firefight.”
In addition to the second-degree intentional murder charge, jurors found Pryor not guilty of second-degree murder by drive-by shooting, second-degree attempted murder with intent, drive-by shooting and second-degree assault.
Prosecutors initially charged Pryor and Selmon with second-degree assault; however, they said at the time that ballistic and forensic evidence would play a role in whether murder charges would be filed against one or both of the men. Murder charges were filed in April 2023.
Chaotic scene
Police responding to a 911 call on shots fired about 6:30 p.m. found McGill dead outside her car. She was shot in her thigh, chest and multiple times in her lower abdomen.
Pryor was at the scene, but wasn’t cooperative with police and later “provided false information to the people who were trying to solve his mother’s murder,” prosecutor Frazier told jurors. His Glock 45 9-mm handgun that he had tossed in a neighbor’s bushes was found five days after the shooting.
Selmon had driven himself to M Health Fairview Ridges Hospital in Burnsville in his SUV. He was transported to another hospital, where officers took a statement from him. He told investigators he’d been in a long-term relationship with McGill but they recently separated. He said they previously shared the Apple Valley home and that he went there to retrieve some of his property.
When he arrived, McGill and Pryor were in their cars in the driveway, Selmon said. So he parked his SUV behind McGill’s car, walked to the garage to grab some belongings and then back to his SUV.
Selmon said that Pryor backed his vehicle up so he was parked adjacent to his SUV and then made a statement about having a gun, according to the charges against them. He said Pryor then fired shots at him as they were both sitting in their vehicles.
Selmon said he got out of his SUV and ran to the front of McGill’s vehicle “believing Pryor would stop shooting if his mother was between them,” the charges said.
After Pryor exited his car and went to the passenger’s side, the two exchanged gunfire. It was during this volley of shots that McGill, who was still in her car situated between Pryor and Selmon, was fatally shot.
As Pryor ran from the home, Selmon followed and continued to fire shots at him, prosecutors told jurors Wednesday at closings. The final shots were from Selmon, who killed Pryor’s dog. He then then put his Girsan 9-mm handgun, which was outfitted with an extended magazine, next to McGill’s hand.
Defense reaction
Pryor has been out of custody since Aug. 8, 2022, after he posted a $50,000 bond on the initial assault charge.
After the verdict, the chief public defender for the First Judicial District, Lindsay Siolka, said Pryor’s attorneys were persistent that he was innocent, even when the state added three lesser charges on the first day of jury selection.
“And they really believe that the jury returned the right and just verdict this afternoon,” Siolka said, adding she was speaking on behalf of Rinehart and Sofio at their request. She added, “And we’re just happy for (Pryor) and his family that justice today was done.”
Dakota County Attorney Kathy Keena said in a statement that she is disappointed with the verdict, but respects the jury’s decision.
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