DC Superior Court Judge Danya Dayson heard testimony from two Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers during a motions hearing in a shooting case on June 26.
Demann Shelton, 32, is charged with three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed, three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, assault with significant bodily injury while armed, seven counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and unlawful possession of a firearm with a prior conviction. The charges stem from his alleged involvement in a shooting that occurred on Nov. 9, 2020, on the 3000 block of 14th Street, NW.
An MPD detective concluded his testimony from a previous hearing about his investigation of the shooting. The witness was previously the lead detective in Shelton’s case.
The detective said he reviewed surveillance camera footage of the suspect fleeing the scene after the incident and visited nearby residences in search of footage tracking the suspect’s whereabouts. He said MPD would have saved any footage used in the case.
The detective told the court he was unable to find witnesses in the case. He decided to close the case on Dec. 30, 2020, since progress was not being made and prosecutors refused to file charges against Shelton.
Prosecutors also called a former MPD patrol officer to testify. The witness stated she used to patrol the Le Droit Park neighborhood, where Shelton was a resident.
The officer said she had several personal interactions with Shelton during her time as a patrol officer, including a traffic stop and two separate arrests in 2018 and 2019 for unlawful possession of a firearm with a prior conviction. At the traffic stop, she said she noticed an open container of alcohol in the vehicle along with a firearm located under Shelton’s seat and another in a book bag between his legs.
The officer said she identified Shelton in court in 2024. She also identified him in a Be on the Lookout (BOLO) flyer created by the lead detective to help the public identify the suspect in this case.
Shelton’s defense attorneys, Emily Suffrin and Emma Mlyniec, stated that a Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) report of the shooting suspect described him as a middle-aged black man wearing a puffy jacket. CAD reports are used to record information from 911 calls and communicate it to police. Suffrin and Mlyniec argued Shelton could not have been the suspect because he was too young.
Suffrin and Mlyniec said the prosecution lost evidence, including body-worn camera footage and 911 audio recordings, between when the incident occurred and when the case was filed against Shelton.
Judge Dayson granted the defense an extension to gather the evidence they claim was lost.
Parties are slated to reconvene on July 2.
