Michael Mosley's mother, Wilma, testifies that he hurt his hand while snowboarding

TROY -- Michael Mosley returned to his mother's house on Saratoga Lake by 8 p.m. on Jan. 24, 2002 -- at least several hours before Arica Lynn Schneider and Samuel "Frost" Holley were killed -- and stayed in for the night, his mother testified.

The testimony of Wilma Mosley on Wednesday gave an alibi for her 41-year-old son at his first-degree murder trial. She said he returned that day with a bandaged hand after snowboarding with his son at the Poestenkill Gorge in Troy -- though prosecutors insist the weather that day made snowboarding impossible.

"He said he was snowboarding with Cody and doing one of his tricks and he fell and hurt his hand," his mother testified.

Mosley is expected to testify today that wound is why his blood was found at the crime scene at 29 Brunswick Road, where he claims he visited a day later and found the victims dead. They weren't discovered until Jan. 26.


Prosecutors allege the evidence refutes Mosley's explanation.

"Are you aware that in Troy on Jan. 24, 2002, there was no snow on the ground?" Assistant District Attorney Christa Book asked Wilma Mosley.

Book had her read aloud a weather data document indicating there was no snow cover on Jan. 23 or 24. The high temperature was 52 degrees, and the weather was logged as "light rain" from 2 to 7 p.m. the day Mosley claims he was snowboarding, according to the document.

Wilma Mosley claimed she remembered those days nine years ago so well because Jan. 25, 2002 was her 50th birthday. Her son acted "like good old Michael" that day, she said.

He lived with her and her husband from February 2001 until March 2002 with the understanding he was getting his life in order after problems with substance abuse.

But Book said the evidence indicates Mosley was buying crack cocaine from Holley during that time.

Mosley's attorney, Terence Kindlon, began presenting his case Wednesday morning by seeking to portray the victims as "crack salespeople" who lived in fear and were exposed to danger.

"The DA invented this notion that they lived in Fort Knox, and I need to show that's utter nonsense," Kindlon told Judge Robert Jacon in response to an objection from the prosecution.

He called Schneider's friend Nikki Scales to the stand. She said the couple slept in the living room of their previous apartment in Lansingburgh for safety reasons.

"Sam was paranoid, and he said if anything ever happened they could run down the fire escape," she testified.

Schneider would sell crack cocaine when Holley was not home out of the Lansingburgh apartment and later at Brunswick Road, she said.

Scales said Holley was often in possession of large sums of money, which he stashed in various hiding places.

Schneider feared a man with a rattail who used to by crack from Holley in Lansingburgh, Scales said.

Under questioning from Book, Scales said the couple always kept their door locked and would not open it without knowing who was knocking.

Holley, a member of the Bloods street gang, said he left New York City because he feared for his safety when arrested on minor charges a day before his death, the arresting Albany officer, Lawrence Heid, testified.

Kindlon said Heid initially told investigators Holley indicated there was a "contract hit" out on him for testifying at a New York City murder trial, though Heid said Wednesday he did not recall Holley being that specific.

Book will continue her cross-examination of Wilma Mosley this morning. The defendant is then expected to take the stand to close the defense's case.

He faces life in prison without parole if convicted of first-degree murder.

Follow Dave Canfield's Live Tweets during today's testimony at #Mosleytrial or @Canfield_Record.

Dave Canfield can be reached at 270-1290 or by email at dcanfield@troyrecord.com.