A full day of jury selection wasn’t enough to finish seating a jury in a high-profile murder trial, two years after a killing in Rancho Peñasquitos. Parrish Chambers, Jr. faces a slew of charges in the death of Connie Dadkhah as well as for violent incidents prosecutors say happened months before she was found dead inside her condo. He’s pleaded not guilty.
The court excused 18 of the 70 potential jurors from serving based on their schedules, or if their employers didn’t cover their full pay over the course of the trial. Prosecutors have prepared a case that’s expected to run through early August, with more than 50 potential witnesses ready to testify.
Attorneys then started the voir dire. That’s the process where the court and attorneys on both sides question potential jurors about biases they may have. The goal is to put together a jury that will be impartial. The defense finished its questioning of the remaining potential jurors, but time ran out for the day before the prosecution could do the same.
Court resumes in the morning, when attorneys on both sides will each get the opportunity to strike 20 jurors from the pool.
A death in Rancho Peñasquitos and the police scrutiny that followed
Once a jury is seated, they’ll learn much more about the death of Dadkhah. On the morning of June 15, 2022, prosecutors say Chambers emerged from Dadkhah's condo, spattered with her blood. They say he flagged down a neighbor to call 911 to report that she was dead inside. He was taken into custody soon after and charged with her murder.
But it’s what happened the night before that has her family, friends, and neighbors questioning whether her death could have been prevented. Many have scrutinized the emergency response and decision-making of the San Diego Police Department the night before her body was discovered.
Police dispatch records show that around 7 p.m. on June 14, 2022, Dadkhah's neighbors began calling 911. They begged police to get there quickly, reporting that a belligerent man was trying to break into a woman’s condo. Initially, the call wasn’t prioritized. About an hour later, callers had new information to tell dispatchers: that man had scaled a wall to her second-floor balcony and smashed his way inside through a sliding glass door. While police upgraded the call to a higher priority, it took another 45 minutes for officers to arrive at the complex.
Those same dispatch records, along with court filings from prosecutors, reveal what happened next. Officers tried to make contact with Dadkhah by calling her phone, knocking on her door, and using a loudspeaker. But officers left the scene 15 minutes later after failing to make contact with anyone inside. There’s no record of Dadkhah calling police that night.
In defending their decision not to force entry the night before, police told NBC 7 Investigates they had reason to believe that Chambers lived there. That was based on a dispatch record that responding officers had access to. Police also told us the decision to force entry into anyone’s home shouldn’t be taken lightly and is the highest level of legal standard they operate under.
But Chambers didn’t live there and our investigation revealed that police didn’t seem to have the complete picture of that suspect’s history with Dadkhah. Court filings show that included an incident in 2020 where Chambers was convicted of vandalism. The judge ordered Chambers to stay away from Dadkhah.
In addition to the murder charge, prosecutors also charged Chambers with three other crimes where they say Dadkhah was his victim. That includes two counts of battery and one count of false imprisonment. He’s pleaded not guilty to those counts as well.
The nature of their exact relationship isn’t clear, but Dadkhah's friends say she met Chambers through her volunteer work with mental health outreach. They say he became smitten with her, tracked down her address, and constantly visited despite repeated requests that Chambers leave her alone.
Court records indicate that Chambers’ public defender Abe Genser intends to paint a different narrative during the trial. One that alleges the two had a tumultuous sexual relationship that included drug use.
