The wife of a former town highway superintendent convicted in the 2025 shooting of a DoorDash delivery driver has pleaded guilty to two evidence tampering charges after initially facing 19 counts in the deletion of doorbell camera footage. On April 10 in Orange County Court, Selina Nelson-Reilly, the wife of former Chester highway superintendent John Reilly III, pleaded guilty to tampering with physical evidence, a felony, and attempted tampering with physical evidence, a misdemeanor.
Orange County Court Judge Craig Stephen Brown said the court’s intention is that she be sentenced for only one of the charges. For the felony charge, Nelson-Reilly could face up to four years in prison.
Nelson-Reilly, 46, was initially charged with hindering prosecution and 17 counts of tampering with evidence, plus an amended tampering with evidence charge. She pleaded guilty in court to having deleted 17 Ring doorbell video files on May 3, 2025, related to the shooting of Alpha Oumar Barry the night before at the Reilly home in Chester.
On May 2, 2025, Barry, a recent legal immigrant from Guinea, was lost with a dead phone battery while out on a food delivery when he approached the Reilly household on Valerie Drive and asked to charge his phone. After a brief interaction at the door with John Reilly — the two versions of which varied during the trial — Barry was shot in the lower back while trying to drive off in his Toyota Corolla and later lost over two feet of his intestines due to the injuries.
“We were able to achieve a just conviction of John Reilly notwithstanding this defendant’s calculated actions to delete video footage of the crime,” said Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler in a statement. “We will not be thwarted from our pursuit of justice by those who seek to undermine the efforts of law enforcement to uncover the truth. To the contrary, we will relentlessly follow the evidence and the law to hold accountable those responsible for violent crime.”
Plea agreement
Nelson-Reilly waived her right to a jury or non-jury trial and entered an interim plea, which included admission to felony conduct and placement on interim probation supervision by the Department of Probation for one year — while her sentencing will be adjourned.
She will also need to complete 200 hours of community service at a not-for-profit entity approved by the Department of Probation, such as a soup kitchen, warming center, church, synagogue or a library.
Orange County Senior Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Mangold required that she waive the right to appeal.
What’s next?
Under the terms and conditions of release under supervision, Nelson-Reilly is required to keep the promises to the court and not get arrested. Interim probation is pending until a pre-sentence investigation is completed, according to Brown.
“Assuming that she does all of that, then in a year, she will be able to come back to court and have the felony condition vacated,” said Ryan Greenbaum, Orange County executive assistant district attorney. “And she’ll be sentenced on the misdemeanor condition.”
The next date to monitor status with Judge Craig Stephen Brown is scheduled for July 1.
Reilly’s attorney, Andrew Jason Proto, a partner at Proto, Sachs & Brown, LLP, did not respond to a request for comment.
Contact reporter Vandana Saras at vsaras@usatodayco.com and @orangecountynyreporter on Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Wife of convicted former Chester highway superintendent pleads guilty
Reporting by Vandana Saras, Middletown Times Herald- Record / Times Herald-Record
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