15-Year Old Who Pointed Firearm at the Chest of her sister's Boyfriend and Shot Him, Pleads Not Guilty to Murder of the 17-Year-Old Boyfriend

The 15-year-old Tolleson girl charged with murder, as an adult, for allegedly shooting and killing her sister's 17-year-old boyfriend has pleaded not guilty.

Ladajianna Mosely -- who was born in 1997 -- told police she thought she had unloaded the .45-caliber handgun she and two others had just recently stolen after breaking into a neighbor's home, according to court documents obtained by New Times.

To her apparent surprise, after removing the magazine, the gun still discharged after she pointed the firearm at the chest of her sister's boyfriend, 17-year-old Raymond Berryman, and pulled the trigger.

Mosely told police that Berryman said not to point the gun at him because it was loaded just before she pulled the trigger, according to court documents.

Now, Mosely's charged with second-degree murder and burglary (nearly 60 percent ofNew Times readers agreed with the decision to charge her as an adult).


Mosely told police that she, Berryman, and 16-year-old Pedro Sanchez (also referred to as Pedro Palacios in court filings) had kicked in the side door of a house on March 19, not too far from Mosely's house, near 83rd Avenue and Lower Buckeye Road.

They "ransacked" the home, according to Mosely, stealing items including three guns -- a shotgun, a .45-caliber handgun, and a revolver.

The three of them went back to Mosely's house and started "playing" with the guns -- like when she removed the magazine from the .45-caliber handgun and pointed it at Berryman before pulling the trigger.

Berryman ran out of the house then collapsed on the street. Berryman, a Tolleson Union High School student, was pronounced dead at a hospital less than an hour later.

According to court documents, Sanchez and Mosely decided they would tell police that Berryman was the victim of a drive-by shooting and she would hide the guns in a bathroom in her house.

Mosely fessed up after being taken to Phoenix PD headquarters, according to the documents. Mosely's sister, who was dating Berryman, told police that she asleep in her room on the second floor of the home when her boyfriend was shot and didn't know what was going on, saying she was awoken by the gunshot.

With Mosely's plea of not guilty, her next court date is scheduled for May 21.