Man who stabbed Duluth woman outside bar found guilty of unintentional murder

DULUTH — A jury found a Michigan man guilty of second-degree murder Tuesday evening, just more than a year after he killed Chantel Raechelle Moose with a single stab during a confrontation at bar close.

Darrius Lamar Plummer, 35, who testified earlier this week, claimed the killing was accidental and in self-defense. The jury deliberated for about seven hours at the St. Louis County Courthouse before concluding he was guilty of second-degree murder without intent while committing a felony. Plummer’s sentencing date has not been set.

Plummer and Moose, who were familiar with each other, were with separate friends at Spurs on First in the early hours of April 12, 2024. As the bar cleared at closing time, witnesses said Plummer made disparaging comments about Moose. Described as a 5-foot-3 “firecracker,” Moose responded. Her friends closed in on them during a scuffle and then the groups scattered.

Plummer, from Canton, Mich., backed up to a wall holding a knife behind his back. He said he would “stick” anyone who ran up on him. Moose approached again. Danyelle Williams, then a bouncer at the downtown Duluth bar, put an arm out to stop her as she lunged toward Plummer. That’s when Plummer reached over Williams’ arms and stabbed downward, Williams said.

The single wound was fatal.

Moose, who Williams said didn’t seem to know she had been cut, dropped to the sidewalk. Plummer stood over Moose, then took off running. He was pistol-whipped and shot at as he fled, making it to Detroit where he was arrested months later by U.S. Marshals.

“The last thing Chantel Moose ever did is stand up for herself,” prosecutor Victoria Wanta said at the start of her closing argument.

Wanta emphasized the split-second singular fatal encounter between Plummer and Moose. Plummer, Wanta argued, had testified that he wasn’t afraid of Moose. But he would have to be afraid of her to justify stabbing her, if he had truly killed her in self-defense.

“It’s the definition of a senseless killing,” she said.

Charles Clas, the defense attorney, asked jurors to consider the stabbing within the broader picture of everything else that happened at closing time. Plummer had been hit by Moose and pushed into a corner. He was surrounded by Moose’s friends, Clas said. He had been threatened with the flash of a gun tucked in a man’s waist. Plummer had been shot before, his attorney said.

Plummer took out his knife, he backed up against a wall and kept an eye on his surroundings.

“Context matters,” Clas said. “When Ms. Moose comes up to him, it is not in a vacuum.”

Bystander Kimonte Travion Cadge, who chased Plummer and hit him with a gun, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm in December 2024 for his role in the chaotic aftermath. He was placed on supervision for two years. Trayvon Walters, who fired his gun at least twice toward Plummer, faces charges similar to Cadge’s.

Supporters for both Plummer and Moose have been in the courtroom during the trial, some of the latter wearing red skirts. On the final day of witness testimonies, a few women hung empty red dresses in front of the courthouse, meant to bring awareness to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

Moose grew up among cousins and later had a daughter, who put her “on top of the world,” according to a statement from her family. She loved music, dancing and art and had a sense of humor.

“She was like the sparkle in everybody’s eyes,” her aunt, Tammy DeFoe, said in a video statement.