Shooting Defendant Denied Acquittal

By Phoebe McConnell - November 25, 2024
Daily Stories | Non-Fatal Shooting | Victims |

DC Superior Court Judge Jason Park denied a shooting defendant’s request for judgment of acquittal on Nov. 20.

Demonte Gibson, 26, is charged with assault with intent to commit robbery while armed, two counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, assault with a dangerous weapon, two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm, and obstruction of justice for his alleged involvement in a non-fatal shooting that occurred on the 1400 block of Fairmont Street, NW on Dec 7, 2021. One person sustained injuries.

A witness, working for the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), continued testimony about firearms she recovered during a search warrant executed for Sep 29. Recovered physical evidence was presented including cartridges that were found on the balcony and in a Nike box between the bed and closet in the apartment.

It was clarified that she did not know if Gibson was there, did not know how long the firearms were there or who brought them, and did not know if Gibson intended to possess guns in his apartment.

Prosecutors also called a neighbor, who testified she located Gibson and the victim in a stairwell. She testified that a “pow” had woken her up in the middle of the night, which she said sounded like a gunshot, but she did not actually see the victim injured. In a\ previous testimony from 2021, she had stated that she saw Gibson grabbing money while she approached them.

The witness testified the victim asked her for water, so the witness left and came back to the stairwell with water to find the victim still there, but Gibson was gone. The victim has since recovered and lives with the witness.

The witness was shown a Twitter account that contained threatening posts.. She identified the profile’s picture as Gibson. However, she was unable to identify an individual pictured in the profile’s banner. 

Defense attorney Rachel Cicurel motioned for a judgment of acquittal on all counts. She argued the prosecution had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Gibson was the perpetrator, and argued that their case was purely based on speculation. 

Judge Park denied the motion, arguing that a reasonable jury could convict him of all charges with the evidence provided by the prosecution. 

A defense witness, who claimed to be very close with Gibson, stated that he frequently saw people going in and out of Gibson’s apartment throughout the years, sometimes with him, sometimes without him. During his testimony, he attested to Gibson’s social life by saying “he’s a cool dude”, as to why people would often be at his apartment.

When shown the Twitter account, the witness stated “I don’t know who this person is”. When asked if the banner picture looked like Gibson, the witness stated “not even”.

Another witness was called in who was able to identify the man in the Twitter banner as “Junior” and recalled he had passed away a couple years ago—but the image was not Gibson. 

The witness, Gibson’s neighbor, testified seeing people frequently go in and out of his apartment, sometimes he was not with them. They were young men in their 20s, or teenagers, wearing ski masks but she never reported them because she never felt afraid, threatened or uncomfortable. She testified there was never any trouble, it was just usually noisy in Gibson’s apartment, even after he had been arrested, the people would still go in and out of his apartment.

The trial is set to resume on Nov 21.